


The Green Planet

by Benny_IsA_Dog



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Action/Adventure, BAMF Pidge | Katie Holt, Black Paladin Keith (Voltron), Blue Paladin Allura (Voltron), Canon Compliant, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Gen, Hurt Lance (Voltron), Keith (Voltron) Angst, Keith (Voltron) Whump, Lance (Voltron) Angst, Lance (Voltron) Whump, Mind Meld, Psychological Torture, Psychological Trauma, Red Paladin Lance (Voltron), Sentient Voltron Lions, Suspense, Team as Family, Torture, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-05
Updated: 2018-04-18
Packaged: 2019-04-18 20:13:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 19,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14220891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Benny_IsA_Dog/pseuds/Benny_IsA_Dog
Summary: When it spoke again, it did so slowly. Disdainfully.“We do not need your help.”The fire was building. It was stretching thin. It was churning and ripping and expanding beyond Keith’s reach. Keith screamed more--Stop! Stop! Please!-- but he’d stopped hearing himself.The creatures had never intended to let them leave. They may have wanted him to talk, but nothing he could ever say was going to change what would happen.Keith was no longer coherent. All he could manage was the same plea, over and over.They were going to kill them.The fire had crescendoed to spread beyond the infrastructure of the base. It was reaching out to the forest around them, and up into the air above.They were going to kill them. Starting with Lance.---An uninhabited planet is not, in fact, uninhabited, and Pidge, Lance, and Keith are captured. Separated, they are forced to face the problem alone. But it's soon clear that their situation is much worse than any of them anticipated.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place between Seasons 3 and 4.

The planet looked a lot like Earth. The sky was familiar shade of blue, and while the trees had a sort of… _exotic_ quality about them, they definitely looked like trees--green and everything.

 

Pidge was kind of glad. Not that she didn’t think all the planets they visited were cool-- it was just nice to see something, well, _expected_ for once. But she knew better than to, say, go swimming in the little pond beneath them without scanning it first. Probably ridiculously acidic or something.

 

She carefully lowered Green into the water, her paws resting almost silently a few feet below the surface. The planet was nearly completely covered by forest, and the small pool was the only break in the trees that would fit Green for miles around. The tops of the alien trees would provide cover for the Lion, but Pidge didn’t remove her cloaking yet.

 

Instead, Pidge removed an oblong machine from where she stowed it in the console. She turned it awkwardly, as it was almost as long as her arm, to reveal a control panel. She pushed a memorized series of buttons, and the machine hummed to life with a faint teal glow.

 

“Okay, Coran,” she said into the Lion's comms, “biosensor on.”

 

“Copy that,” quipped Coran, “Commence biosensor positioning.”

 

Lance leaned around the pilot’s chair and looked dangerously close to poking at the sensor, but Pidge smacked his hand away.

 

“Ow!” He yelled indignantly, “I didn’t do anything!”

 

“You'd probably manage to reset the calibrations just by looking at it too long,” she snapped, handing the machine off to Keith. Lance glared at Pidge as Keith, resolutely ignoring them, made his way to the cargo hold.

 

Keith's voice came through the helmet comms. “Okay, ready.”

 

Pidge scanned the treeline, then opened the cargo hold door. From Green’s cameras, she watched as the biosensor plopped into the pond. She quickly closed the door again.

 

“It’s down, Coran,” she said.

 

“Great! I’ll begin the scan.”

 

Pidge kept her hands on the controls, ready to steer Green up and away at a moment’s notice. Keith re-joined them in the cockpit.

 

Now they just had to wait for Coran to finish. Pidge hated waiting-- especially when they were already pretty sure they were in the clear-- and had to resist the urge to drop her forehead on the console. Lance, though, had already leaned against the pilot’s chair in apparent boredom.

 

They were investigating an abandoned Galra base, situated on this Earth-like planet, on the very edge of the Empire’s influence.  They were hoping to learn more about how Galra communications and tech had changed in the past ten thousand years (even if this particular site had been out of commission for a few centuries), hack into any remaining systems, figure out why this particular base had been abandoned… anything, really, that they could use to piece together the Blades’ incomplete intel. It was a long shot, they all knew, but they theoretically would have plenty of time to do it without the constant threat of being blown up by the enemy.

 

They still had approached cautiously, though. Allura and Hunk had stayed in their Lions above the planet to provide aerial cover, while Shiro and Coran waited in the Castle on the other side of the solar system--the side closest to the heart of the Empire-- acting as early warning if the Galra detected their presence and decided to attack. Their long-range scanners found no activity at the base, but Shiro had insisted they use something with finer resolution. Pidge thought it was overkill, but Keith had agreed.

 

Hence, they were using cloaking and employing the biosensor. It would have been nice to just drop the sensor from a safe distance in the air, but it didn’t come with any practical way to add cloaking. It would have been hard for any remaining Galra to miss their sensor-turned-meteorite streaking through the air.

 

Just as Keith started to pace and Lance dramatically slumped further down the chair, Coran’s voice trilled back into the cockpit.

 

“Aaaaaaaaannnd…. Finished! Good news! There seems to be lots and lots of dense plant life down there--”

 

“No kidding?” Lance asked sarcastically, peering from his nearly reclined position out at the dense ring of trees.

 

“--but no animal forms of life bigger than what you Earthlings would call a chipmunk!” (Pidge had given Coran access to the massive amount of reference material stored on her Garrison-issued tablet, and he had been zealously working his new-found wealth of knowledge into everyday conversation.) “And even those are few and far from your landing site. The Galra base is, indeed, empty.”

 

Pidge exhaled and released the controls, and Keith next to her seemed to relax some. Lance, however, jumped up happily.

 

“Alright! Let’s do some breaking and entering!” he exclaimed with a broad smile.

 

The faces of Allura and Hunk from the Blue and Yellow Lions appeared on Green’s screens.

 

“We’ll see you in two vargas,” said Allura.

 

Their helmet coms wouldn’t be able to reach the others orbiting above very reliably, so the team had agreed on a time limit by which they had to come back to Green and check in through her stronger communication systems.

 

“See you on the other side,” said Hunk brightly, giving a small wave.

 

“Roger that,” Pidge said, smiling back. The connection terminated and she swiveled the pilot’s chair to look at Keith.

 

Keith shifted on his feet a little, looking somewhat awkward under her and Lance’s attention.

 

“Um, okay. Let’s go,” he said in a voice Pidge could tell he hoped sounded authoritative.

 

“Okay!” she said, in a voice _she_ hoped sounded supportive. God, she was bad at this.

 

If Lance was hoping for something, he didn’t show it. As Green lowered her head toward the shore, he--with what appeared to be sincere enthusiasm--strutted confidently towards the exit. Pidge turned off the cloaking, and followed her fellow Paladins out.

 

The three of them stood on the shore while Pidge pulled up a map of the planet from her armor. The base looked like it was about a mile away. Luckily, Keith seemed to be much more relaxed now there was something to _do_ and led the way in the indicated direction. Pidge sent a mental “bye” to Green, who squeezed back gently, and fell in line behind Lance.

 

This mile was going to be a pain in the ass, Pidge soon realized. Dense underbrush encroached nearly right up to the edge of the pond, and she quickly found herself waist-deep in deceptively sturdy foliage as they progressed. She tried not to slow down, but she had to look down at her feet the entire time to prevent them from catching on roots or saplings and flopping her over.  Lance didn’t seem to be doing much better, despite his substantially longer legs. He was leaning every which way to swing his feet over the taller obstacles and scowling at the plants like they’d each done him a personal wrong.

 

Keith, however, was remaining infuriatingly upright and progressively leaving them in his metaphorical dust. Pidge was getting ready to yell at him to _slow the hell down_ when Lance toppled over with a sharp yelp--landing face-first in a particularly thorny-looking bush.

 

“Agh! I hate this planet!” he yelled into the offending shrubbery.

 

“I think it hates you, too,” said Pidge, sidestepping Lance and making her way safely around him and whatever had tripped him.

 

Lance awkwardly pushed himself back to his feet, huffing. “Shouldn’t you be clearing the way for us with your sword or something, Keith?” he demanded, arms akimbo.

 

Keith, who had finally paused, looked exasperated. “I’m not your _weed whacker_.”

 

“Not a _weed whacker,”_ sassed Lance, imitating his tone, “--more like a _bush_ whacker.”

 

Lance’s face brightened as they started moving again--still embarrassingly slowly-- Lance now in rear. “Or maybe like a ‘trail-blazer’-- that sounds cool right? You’d be like one of those explorers in those old-timey movies machete-ing their way through the jungle. Tell me that doesn’t sound cool!”

 

“It doesn’t sound cool,” said Keith, flatly.

 

“Oh come _on_ \-- even _you_ must’ve seen one of those movies. There’s always a hero trying to find a lost civilization or some treasure or something, and what are we if not really cool--”

 

But Keith cut him off. “Quiet _,”_ he growled.

 

Pidge, who had been watching her feet, looked up just in time to keep from smacking her helmet into Keith’s jetpack. Keith had stopped.

 

“What? All I’m saying is it would be--”

 

 _“Quiet,”_ repeated Keith.

 

Lance shut up.

 

Pidge looked up through Keith's visor, at his face. His eyes were darting around, looking for movement. All she could hear was the breeze in the trees.

 

“What?” she whispered. But he didn’t answer. She huffed in frustration, scanning the forest, too.

 

Wait… was the breeze getting louder? Like, a _lot_ louder?

 

The sound of blasters shattered the air.

 

Keith yelled something that was probably profanity. He jumped into a defensive stance and activated his shield almost immediately. Behind Pidge, Lance yelled something that was definitely profanity.

 

Pidge scrambled to activate her own shield.

 

Too late.

 

Pain erupted in her calf. It felt like her leg had fallen asleep--and then been set on fire. The pain threatened to swamp her awareness and everything around her.

 

_Fuck._

 

She realized she was screaming. With a massive effort, she made herself choke it back. She was grasping her leg against her chest--although she didn’t remember doing that-- and she had at some point ended up in the dirt among the roots. Something was trying to heave her back up.

 

She looked up. Lance had grabbed her under her arm and was trying to manage his own blaster with one hand. Keith was deflecting shots away from them with both his shield and sword and was yelling something over his shoulder.

 

And there was something moving-- moving _quickly_. It was coming closer, cutting them off, surrounding them. Pidge tried to understand what she was seeing.

 

Trees _?_

 

She tried desperately to activate her shield, to reach for her bayard-- _anything_ \-- but she couldn’t make her hands pry away from where her leg felt like it was melting from the inside-out. She didn’t seem to be able to do much at all.  

 

A word plowed to the front of her progressively fogging mind: _stunned_.

 

The pain was growing. And climbing. To her knee, her thigh, her hip. She was screaming again.

 

_Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck._

 

A new burst of pain blossomed in her shoulder, and she knew no more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my first ever fan-fiction, so please be nice. I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments section! And Kudos are like love sent through a computer screen.
> 
> The entire work has been written, and I'll be posting a chapter every day until it's finished.


	2. Chapter 2

Pidge woke, confused, to the feel of hard metal beneath her.

 

That’s not right.

 

She pushed her mind outwards, reflexively, looking for a familiar comforting presence.

 

Green pressed back. She washed over Pidge, happily-- happy she was awake, happy she was okay-- and with an undercurrent of worry and frustration.

 

That’s not right, either.

 

Pidge jerked upright, knocking her elbow against the floor. She blinked as her eyes adjusted to the dim light. Purple light.

 

Her mind felt like it was being weighed down with sludge. This wasn’t her bed. Purple means something. Something _bad_.

 

Oh, crap. She’d been captured.

 

Green pressed firmly on her mind-- pushing away the first waves of panic that had started to lap through the sludge. Pidge leaned into that presence, feeling grounded.

 

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. And another.  

 

Green’s energy caressed her as the thick confusion slowly--very slowly-- receded. When all that was left were small pieces of fog in the corners of her consciousness, Green firmly nosed them out.

 

Finally, Pidge reopened her eyes.

 

She looked carefully around the small room. Metal floor, metal walls, metal ceiling. There was nothing else in the room besides an obnoxious purple light fixture far above her head. She could see a fine line that traced the edges of one of the walls. Probably a door? But with no obvious method of opening it. Okay, a cell.

 

Yep, captured.

 

She looked down at herself. No armor, no bayard, no helmet. All she had on was her under suit. Logical. Why leave her with defenses?

 

Green replied with a mental growl.

 

She reached out to Green-- where was she? The Lion felt pretty close.

 

Green flashed a series of images from her own eyes. She was immobilized with what Pidge recognized as some form of scaled-down Galra-tech tractor beam. Through the Lion’s particle barrier she could see more metal walls, also lit with dim Galra purple. It looked like a small hanger-- there was a vertical line running floor to ceiling behind her that was most likely a bay door. Pidge could tell she was being held a good several hundred yards away, through likely long, twisting corridors.

 

Well, shit.

 

Okay, okay, okay.  She inhaled, rubbing her hands against her face. She needed to figure out what to do-- and to make a conclusion, she needed information. Data. No time to freak out.

 

Green pushed her mind, buoying her with a sense of calm and determination.

 

Alright. How did she get here?

 

She remembered coming down to the planet in Green, under cloaking, with Lance and Keith---

 

 _Fuck_. Lance and Keith. Where the hell were they?

 

She whipped her head around, as if the walls would give her a hint. Oh, God. If they weren’t with her then something could have happened to them and they could be hurt and incapacitated or _worse_ and they were a team and so much _more_ to her and _she couldn’t lose anyone else_ and--

 

Green once again intervened. Calm. Focus. Think.

 

Pidge latched on to her Lion’s thoughts. She inhaled again, letting Green smooth out the sharper edges of her growing fear. She could do this. Be calm. Focus. Think.

 

She asked Green if she could feel any of her sisters-- particularly Black or Red. The Lion purred back a negative. Too far away.

 

Pidge sighed. She scooted herself to the wall across from what she guessed to be the door to the cell (she’d seen many Galran prisoners’ cells at this point, but never from the inside) and leaned her back against it. She pulled her knees up again herself and wrapped her arms around them.

 

So. How had this stupid-ass mission gone to shit?

 

She tried to remember what had happened in the forest. They had been walking--for, what, fifteen minutes?-- without incident… but then there’d been blasters. She remembered being hit with one, being stunned.

 

And she remembered _trees_ . They were moving _by themselves_ . And quickly. And towards them. 

 

She frowned. That wasn’t quite right, was it? The weren’t _trees_ exactly, more _made_ of trees. They had been tall and wooden. They were fast, too--she hadn’t really gotten a good look at them. They had looked sort of humanoid. Ish.

 

Anyway, they’d been fast. And been using blasters.

 

Huh. Had the tree things adapted the Galran tech on the base for their own use? That would explain the now powered-up base that apparently surrounded her.  And of course Pidge And Friends had been lucky enough to go waltzing through a planet where the biosignatures of the lifeforms blended in with the surroundings. Fabulous.

 

She strained her muddled memory further--goddamn stun blaster-- and remembered Lance trying to pull her with him, and Keith trying to protect them both.

 

_ Gee, Pidge _ ,  _ great job being helpful _ , she  thought.

 

She moved on. Where were Lance and Keith now?

 

Considering the remembered vice grip Lance had on her (and the bruises now forming on her armpit), Lance probably hadn’t left her when she’d gone down. Even if he had decided to drop her to better fight back, the entire process of grabbing her and trying to move her dead weight through the underbrush would have slowed him down substantially. And they’d already had tree-people closing in on multiple sides.

 

So, Lance was almost definitely here with her. Somewhere.

 

Keith, though, might’ve realized that their best chance lay in someone getting back to Green and calling for immediate backup. Well, he probably would’ve only left if he had reason to believe the tree people wouldn’t kill her and Lance immediately. Anyway, Keith obviously hadn’t made it to Green-- the Lion had probably been captured at the same time or immediately after they’d been ambushed. The Lion confirmed that, no, she hadn’t seen the other Paladin.

 

That meant that Keith had either been captured with them, or he was currently creeping through the woods like an oversized spider.

 

Pidge smiled wryly. She didn’t think that even Keith would have been able to fight his way through the mass of tree-people that moved so quickly and silently by himself.

 

Keith was probably here, too.

 

Pidge sighed again. She had to assume that she was the only one capable of escape. Lance and Keith could be injured or still asleep.

 

Now it was time to figure out what to do.

 

To get out of here, she’d have to do one of three things: free Green, get a message to the others, or wait for the two-varga time-limit to expire and for Hunk and Allura to come smashing in to rescue them.

 

 _How long has it been since we started?_ she asked Green, who had a clock built into her console. Numbers flashed into her brain-- 1.4 vargas. Only a little over half a varga left, then. Not bad, but a lot could happen in half a varga.

 

She snorted to herself. A simple recon operation could turn into a rescue mission in less time than that, _for example_.

 

She had no idea what might be happening to Keith and Lance--Green helped her not to follow that train of thought too far--so she wanted to limit the time they all were here as much as possible. That left her with getting to Green or sending a message. Both of which would require escaping her cell and hacking into rooms and systems. And hacking would require her armor-- which she’d need to find before doing anything else. Even trying to slash her way through tractor-beam generators meant she needed her bayard. Green had a loose connection to Pidge’s bayard, which was likely still stashed within the armor. However, the Lion reported sadly, she really couldn’t pinpoint it anymore accurately than “somewhere on the base”.

 

Quiznak, this wasn’t going her way.

 

Pidge concluded that if she escaped her cell, she’d just have to run madly in a random direction and hope Green could guide her someplace useful.

 

Which brought her to the whole “escaping” part.

 

She got to her feet-- earlier dizziness thankfully seeming to have receded-- and approached the door. There were no gaps that she could use, and no gives in the metal that might suggest underlying weakness. She looked up at the ceiling, wondering if she could use the sorry excuse for a lamp for something. However, said lamp was much further up than she could reach, and the cell walls were too smooth to Spider-Man up. Besides, falling and breaking her ankle would put a damper on her run-like-hell plan.

 

She’d have to wait for the tree-people to come for her-- _if_ they came for her-- and open the door. And then what? She was fast and small enough to maybe dodge the guards if they were big, hulking Galra, but these things had popped out of the forest like magic, and she wasn’t sure she could get away from that.

 

Well, that was the only plan she had. The door _might_ open, she’d _hopefully_ dart her way around whatever was standing there, and then sprint to _God-knows-where._

 

Green hummed in solidarity. The Lion didn't like their odds of success, but she politely didn't offer whatever percentages she may have calculated. It was, indeed, the only available option.

 

Pidge returned to the far wall, crouched so she could launch herself forward at the first opportunity, and watched the door.

 

She just had to wait.

 

Pidge hated waiting.

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos make my soul do cartwheels. Comments make me feel like a winner. 
> 
> Well, I'm pleased as punch about the positive reception of chapter 1. I got so excited that I almost wanted to post chapter 2 early. Almost. 
> 
> Shout out to thisfairytalegonebad, IcyPanther, NebulaPaws, voltron-fangirl, ObsidianPearls, and Iceleaf for the wonderful and encouraging comments last chapter!


	3. Chapter 3

Keith jerked, gasping. His mind was hazy, not quite able to grasp a solid thought. He was pushing through a dark cloud that was pressing down around him and _he had to get out_.

 

He clawed upward, outward. The cloud was thinning.  

 

No, he didn’t have to get out. He had to get _away._

 

They were being _attacked_ and he had to _get them all away._

 

He lurched forward and swung up his sword.

 

His shoulders exploded in pain as his arms felt like they would be ripped from their sockets. Something smashed into the back of his head. Static-like blackness crossed his vision. His head burned and throbbed, and his limbs wouldn’t responded to his commands of _move move move._

 

Keith braced himself for the next blows. None came.

 

He blinked his eyes, trying to make sense of anything around him. It was dark, though. He couldn't see anything. It was deathly quiet, too.

 

He forced his ragged breathing to calm. The throbbing slightly slowed.

 

He realized he was on the ground. He tried to push his legs up beneath him, and while they seemed to be listening to him again, his efforts were met with more pain in his shoulders. This time, though, the contact to his head was only a light thump.

 

What the hell?

 

He tugged on his arms experimentally, but they didn't budge. He vaguely understood that they both seemed to be trapped on either side of him.

 

What was going on? Wasn't he with Pidge and Lance? Didn't something happen? He didn't feel right. His thoughts were coming jumbled and confused.

 

 _Black?_ he called. He needed an anchor. He needed the decisive head of Voltron.

 

But she didn’t answer.

 

_Black, please… I really need you._

 

His Lion couldn’t hear him. The realization made his head hurt a little more. Panic crept through his gut and up his throat.

 

 _No, no don't do that,_ he thought to himself. Panic usually made things worse. _Patience yields focus._ Someone had told him that-- he couldn’t remember who, but he knew it had been someone important.

 

He counted out ten deep breaths, trying not to think of anything else. Then 20.

 

By the time Keith reached 100, his mind felt sharper. He wasn't sure if he was back to normal, but it was hard to tell without sight or sound to orient to.

 

Okay. He was starting to recognize the symptoms of coming out of being stunned. So while his brain didn't seem to be helping him much right now, the confusion would go away, eventually. He just had to keep from panicking and hurting himself more like an idiot. He wouldn't be a help to himself or anyone else if he knocked himself unconscious.

 

He leaned his head back, and it came into contact with a smooth wall. Keith must have smacked his head against it when he had tried to stand up and his arms had caught. He let it rest there, trying to relax somewhat.

 

He focused on his hands, which were stuck beside him. He could move them some, but his wrists and forearms were tightly ensconced in something hard and metal. Manacles? The tubes held his arms somewhat away from his sides, with his elbows and shoulders all at nearly ninety-degree angles. Keith tried leaning forward, but both were fastened tight to the wall.

 

Keith sighed. He wasn't going anywhere.

 

Judging from the floor and wall pushing right up against his undersuit, he wasn't wearing his armor anymore. Or his helmet, the throbbing reminded.  And without his helmet, he couldn't call for help. He couldn't call for someone else to come and figure this all out for him.

 

He took another deep breath. He’d have to figure this out himself. How did he get here?

 

His stomach turned a summersault as he remembered the attack in the forest. _Trees_ had ambushed him, Pidge, and Lance. He remembered Pidge screaming and Lance yelling over the sound of blasters before they both went silent behind him. That must've been about when Keith was hit, too-- he couldn't remember anything after that.  

 

The wall and floor told him he was inside some sort of established structure. They hadn't been far from the Galran base, but he supposed the tree-people could have easily taken them to some other hidden building. Would aliens made of wood know how to build metal rooms? They'd definitely figured out blasters.

 

Lance and Pidge should be here. If he, Keith, was alive, they should be too.

 

He hoped.

 

He listened more carefully now, straining his ears. He needed to hear the sound of breathing, or of someone else shifting nearby.

 

“Lance?” he whispered, “Pidge?”

 

There was only smothering silence.

 

Keith leaned his head back again and stifled a breathy whimper. How had he let this happen? He was supposed to be in charge--but now, here he was, helpless with two of his team missing. What series of mistakes had he made for them to end up here? Would Shiro have made those same mistakes if he were the Black Paladin again?

 

No, probably not.  Shiro didn't make mistakes-- not the kind that put his team in danger.

 

Keith startled as his vision flooded with purple light.

 

He blinked up at the source, above him, which was a lamp of some kind attached to the ceiling. His eyes followed the ceiling to unadorned metal walls. He apparently was, indeed, inside the Galra base, in an empty room maybe 20 feet across in each direction. He was sitting in the middle of the wall to his back, and there was a door to his left.

 

And that door was opening. It hissed as it retracted into the ceiling.

 

Keith’s breath hitched as three figures entered, although he managed to keep from startling again. They were some of the tree people, but... God, they didn’t look much like trees up close. The stood like humans, on two feet, but were much taller. Their legs and torsos looked like they were made of knotted bark that had been abused by the elements for centuries, while their shoulders tapered into vine-like arms and thick necks that supported squared, gnarled heads.

 

But they didn’t have faces-- or nothing that Keith would have considered a face. Instead, on the front of their heads-- where eyes should have been--were empty spaces, filled only with a blackness that extended into their heads. They seemed to reach far deeper than physically possible. No light entering was escaping back out. Like black holes.

 

And all six holes were staring at Keith.

 

Sheer terror punched him-- taking over his body and overwhelming his mind...

 

...But he couldn’t afford to be terrified. Not if Lance and Pidge were depending on him.

 

He got angry instead. He re-folded that fear into the more familiar emotion. Anger was something he knew, something he could use. These goddamn shits attacked him, he told himself. Attacked his team. They didn't merit his terror or his patience.

 

He narrowed his eyes at them.

 

“Where are the others?” he demanded, glaring up at them right in their not-quite faces. His voice, thank God, didn’t waiver.

 

But the tree-things didn’t answer. The two on the sides broke away, and moved to flank Keith by the wall.

 

“Hey! I’m talking to you fucks!” he shouted at them, but they only turned to face the center of the room. He turned back to scowl at the one in front of him. “Answer me!”

 

A high, reedy sound pierced the air. It took Keith a tick to realize it was a voice.

 

“ _Who are you?”_

 

None of the tree-things had moved, but the words sounded like they came from the one in the middle.

 

“Where are the others?” Keith repeated.

 

A stony silence followed. They were unnaturally still, not  shifting or even _breathing_ to break the quiet.  Keith felt a fiery rage build in his chest. It wasn't answering him.

 

Finally, “ _How did you find this place?”_

 

Keith wanted nothing more than to stick his knife in one of those eye-holes.  “Are you _deaf_? Where are my friends?”

 

More silence. The thing in front of him remained completely still.

 

“ _Why are you here?”_

 

“I’m not _talking_ to you fuckers until I see my friends and know they’re okay,” Keith snarled. He was pretty sure this wasn’t how you were supposed start a potential diplomatic encounter--but all he had were his words right now, and these tree-things seemed interested in those words. He was going to use that as much as it was worth.

 

The center tree-thing paused. It seemed to be considering him.

 

_“You are their leader?”_

 

Keith bared his teeth at it. Well, yes. Technically. But he couldn’t think of a good reason to deny it-- they’d probably heard him shouting at Lance to retreat back to the Lion. Maybe it would help protect Lance and Pidge, if their captors thought Keith was the biggest threat. Maybe it would make them take him seriously and _answer_ him. Maybe they’d think he knew what he was doing.

 

Even though he didn’t.

 

Keith tensed his whole body, trying to channel his anger into the most threatening pose he could manage while restrained awkwardly to the floor. He leaned forward into the manacles and glared straight into the creature’s eyes. He hissed through his teeth, putting as much venom into his answer as he could.

 

“ _Where. Is. My. Team_.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It sucks to be disoriented without your telepathic best buddy around. 
> 
> Anyways, it turns out I'm too impatient to wait 2 days between chapters, so I'm going to start posting one each night. 
> 
> This is my first attempt at fiction since, like, middle school, and I've definitely never done anything this ambitious before. So, please, please, PLEASE, if you've been enjoying this, leave kudos and a comment. Tell me your overall impressions, a part of the chapter you liked, how your day's going, etc. I want to know how the reader is experiencing the story (that's how we get better, right?). I keep reading the comments over and over-- they make me so happy.
> 
> Shoutout to Nebulapaws and voltron-fangirl13 for (at the time of this post) commenting on Chapter 2!


	4. Chapter 4

Something really bad had happened.

 

Lance pushed his face into his knees. Grief tore a hole through his gut, drowned him, and dragged him downwards.

 

Something _really bad._

 

He wanted Blue. She would wrap her energy around him and protect him. She would hold him and sooth him until all the bad things had passed. She would tell him everything would be alright, and fill him with her laughing, splashing mind.

 

But he couldn’t have Blue. He knew that...but he couldn’t remember why. He needed something else...something like Blue, but not…

 

 _Red._ Yes--that’s it--he needed his other Lion.

 

He needed Red, whose piercing emotions often threatened to overwhelm him. Whose fire would wrap around him and push from inside him.  Whose power and intensity made him feel _strong_. Strong like the right arm of Voltron should be.

 

And Lance really wanted to feel strong right now.

 

But as much as he reached, he couldn’t feel her. He couldn’t feel her unending confidence or her heat.

 

Lance was alone. And alone, he wasn’t the right arm of Voltron.

 

He was just Lance.

 

He curled tighter against himself, and he cried.

 

 

 

xxxxxxxx

 

 

Eventually, Lance was able to wonder why he was so sad.  

 

He remembered… Pidge? Pidge had been _screaming_ . Oh God, she had been hit by a blaster and was _screaming_ . And then--and then she’d been hit _again_ and she’d gone so, so still…

 

 _Pidge was dead_.

 

His next sob was pushed away by a broken wail.

 

Grief was now a massive wave, slamming into him, leaving him gasping. He was being ripped to shreds, crushed. The hole in his gut was no longer in just his gut. It replaced his limbs, his lungs, his heart, his head…

 

...and he was falling, falling, falling into it...

 

...But a small, clearer part of his mind caught him. It was pointing something out.

 

He, Lance, was awake.

 

 _So what?_ The rest of him screamed at it. He didn't want to be awake. He didn't want to _exist_.  But the clear spot didn't stop.

 

He was awake. Which meant he was _alive_...which meant he had been stunned...

 

...and that Pidge had been stunned, too. Which meant _she_ was alive.

 

Alive, but in trouble.

 

... _And_ it meant Lance was _crying on the floor_ while Pidge was in _trouble_.

 

Lance ripped his eyes open, looking around him for the first time. But he wasn’t in the forest, and Pidge wasn’t at his feet anymore. As he took in the purple-lit cell around him, it occurred to Lance that maybe he was in some trouble, too.

 

He pushed the thought away. He uncurled himself from the fetal position he’d adopted on the cell floor, and sat up.

 

Whoops, that was a mistake. His head swam and stars danced across his vision. He groaned, bracing himself on the floor with one hand and clutching his head with the other. Right. Stunned.

 

Instead of launching to his feet, as originally planned, he cautiously scooted to the metal wall closest to him.  He needed to get his shit together, and falling over didn’t count as having his shit together. Lance wiped away the last few tears that had clung to his cheek. He needed to find Pidge. And find...Keith? Keith!

 

Lance grimaced. Keith was in trouble, too.

 

God _,_ he needed to do something. But a quick evaluation of himself left him wondering what “something” could even be. He apparently had no comms, bayard, or Lion, and this cell meant he really wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. At least Pidge had the Green Lion nearby. She would come for her if Pidge called, and Pidge would get the team and they would come for him and Keith.

 

… But that hadn’t happened, yet. Pidge hadn’t called… What did that mean? _She’s just still asleep_ , he assured himself. He couldn’t afford to fall into that hole again right now.

 

How long had he been out? They’d only had two vargas before having to report back to the rest of the team, so he was pretty sure they’d be looking for them soon. It wouldn’t be hard for them to figure it out, right? The only real place to look was the abandoned base, and that seemed to be where Lance was.

 

Well, he was pretty sure that was where he was. He looked at the walls again, scrutinizing them. It would take awhile to be shipped over to an active Galra ship… and he hadn’t been out _that_ long...had he? How long could stunning last…?

 

Wherever he was, he knew his team would come for them. It _did_ seem most likely that he would still be on the forest planet, so soon Allura and Hunk would come busting in and break them out. Or, maybe Allura would royal-diplomat her way through this, and then they’d all just _walk_ out. This was clearly a huge misunderstanding-- team Voltron had had no idea a race of tree-people lived here, and the natives were probably scared to pieces and defending themselves. Allura could totally handle this-- maybe they’d even leave with a new ally.

 

Lance grinned to himself. The natives had even been nice enough to set their blasters to stun, so that was a plus one for the diplomatic route.

 

But his smile faded. What had _his_ blaster been set to? He almost always used it on stun, but sometimes he could switch the settings just by thinking about it… and he wasn’t really sure what his bayard might have interpreted from him once Pidge had started screaming.

 

Well, _minus_ one point for the diplomatic route, then.

 

He rubbed his face in his hands with a groan. Maybe he couldn’t wait for the others. If he’d been killing people, what would the tree-things think of the three aliens that had invaded their planet? What might happen to Pidge and Keith…?

 

But what could he do? He was literally defenseless, as getting in a fist fight with one of those freaky fast tree-people was almost definitely not going to end well for him. He didn’t even know where Pidge and Keith might be.  All he could hope was that they were in cells nearby.

 

Well...maybe he could employ the diplomatic route himself--and as soon as possible. Maybe he could channel his inner Allura and figure it out. He didn’t have much experience making alliances, but damn it, he was the self-proclaimed expert at talking. He could talk circles around these guys if he needed to-- if it meant protecting Pidge and Keith and getting them all out.

 

He could do this. He took a deep breath and stood up.

 

Lance’s opportunity came quicker than expected. He’d been smiling expectantly at the door (like an idiot-- but somebody had to be watching him, right? And he might as well look friendly) for what he guessed was about ten minutes, when, to his surprise, someone actually came in.

 

Despite Lance’s attempted welcoming persona, his eyes flew wide, and he back peddled into the rear wall. He couldn’t help it. His right elbow smashed into the metal as he reflexively reached for a bayard that wasn’t there.

 

The tree-people didn’t look anything like what he was expecting.

 

Two stood in the doorway to his cell. Lance realized-- rather late-- that he had jumped into an attack-ready position as far away from them as possible. Minus another point for diplomatic relations.

 

He couldn’t tear his eyes from the holes in their faces-- although, God, he really didn’t want to look at them. His heart was pounding. His body had locked into place in fear.

 

He tried desperately to regain control, even while his lizard brain kept screaming _Fight or flight! Fight or flight!_ He had met _so many_ other rather creepy-looking aliens and been fine, why should these be any different? Why was he suddenly letting fear and prejudice take him over?

 

(Well, because he was alone, in a cell, and at these  _particularly_ creepy-looking aliens’ mercy.)

 

...But so were Keith and Pidge.

 

Lance lowered his arm, and stood up straight.

 

He put on the brightest smile he could manage. He extended both hands away from him slightly in a gesture he’d seen Allura offer a million times to new alien friends. He hoped it looked like a less-threatening version of a handshake.

 

“Hello, my name is Lance, the Red Paladin of Voltron,” he said, “I think we’ve gotten off to a bad start.”

 

Silence.

 

Lance’s resolve waivered a bit. His voice rose a little in pitch.

 

“Um, I think we’ve had a serious misunderstanding, and I would be happy to--”

 

He couldn’t stifle a yelp as one tree-things moved towards him-- horribly quickly-- and appeared very close to his left side. Lance’s face was inches from the alien's chest.  He managed not to step away from it, though. He swallowed, then craned his neck to address it.

 

“...Um... and-- and I would be happy to meet with representatives of your people and explain our rude arrival on your planet.” He was trying really, really hard to talk like Allura, to sound confident and sure of himself, but his voice climbed higher and faster as he spoke. “We meant no harm, and we apologize for--”

 

The alien grabbed him by the shoulder.

 

 _Oh shit_. Without thinking, Lance tried to tear away from it, clutching at the vine-like fingers with his hands, but the other joined them to grab his other side, holding him firmly in place.

 

Minus another point.

 

Lance felt ready to fight for his life. His heart was racing, his chest heaving. He wanted to kick and struggle and _get away--_ but he couldn’t freak out. He knew he couldn’t win in a fight. And he knew Pidge and Keith needed him.

 

He forced himself to stay still as they wrenched his arms behind him and cuffed them. Really, he tried to tell himself, this wasn’t all that bad of a development, was it? He really hadn’t been any closer to an escape when he _wasn’t_ being practically hogtied by aliens. He could still play the diplomat-- and now there was someone here to be a diplomat _to._ That had to be a plus.

 

Lance took a slow breath, even as his lungs wanted to go about five times faster. He looked up at the not-faces of his captors a good few feet above his head and smiled again.

 

“I promise this isn’t necessary,” he said, cheerily, although it came out significantly squeakier than before, “--but whatever makes you guys feel better.”

 

They pushed him towards the door, and his feet stumbled to keep up. They turned him down a purple-lit corridor that was lined with more doors. Lance wondered if Pidge and Keith were behind those doors. He considered making a break for it-- opening every single one of them _somehow_ and looking.

 

But he couldn’t do that. He couldn’t win in a fight. He had to show the tree-people they weren’t dangerous, and starting a scuffle in the hallway wouldn’t help with that. It wouldn’t help Pidge and Keith. He had to follow them, and he couldn't do anything about it.

 

So Lance did the only thing he _could_ do.

 

He talked.

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Paladins and their Lions are a co-dependent mess. 
> 
> Kudos are like warm hugs. Comments let me know you care and help me figure out if you guys are liking this or not. 
> 
> For their wonderful comments last chapter (at the time of this posting), shout out to nerdbeyondlimits, thisfairytalegonebad, voltron-fangirl13, and Nebulapaws. You guys make me so happy.


	5. Chapter 5

Keith didn’t hear any communication between them, but one of the tree-creatures flanking him left.

 

The one in the center didn’t ask him any more questions. Keith hoped that meant something good. He sat in sullen silence, in basically a staring contest with it, for what felt like several minutes.

 

The door opened, and the missing creature returned to his side. At least, it was probably the same one.

 

More minutes passed.

 

Eventually, the door opened again, and the quiet was broken by a voice.

 

“--and so I’m thinking the Princess of Altea would be very interested to--”

 

Keith didn’t care what Allura might be interested in-- all he could process was _alive, alive, alive._ Alive and _talking._ God, he’d never been so happy to hear Lance prattle.

 

Lance was led into the center of the room next to the main interrogator by two more tree-things, talking up a storm, not yet noticing Keith in the dim light. Keith could hear, though, a high pitch and rapid cadence to the Red Paladin’s words. From mission after mission with him, facing some of the worst of what the universe could throw at them, Keith knew that meant Lance was very, very scared.

 

Fuck these shitheads.

 

Lance’s voice cut off as he froze, eyes wide, finally catching sight of Keith on the floor. He shifted forward, looking ready to launch himself across the room to Keith, or do something else stupidly dangerous, but his tree-thing escorts held him fast .

 

Keith took the opportunity to scan over him, checking for injury. He was standing normally, and had walked in without any obvious deficit. Like him, Lance wasn’t wearing his armor anymore. There weren’t any tears in his undersuit along his legs or torso. He couldn’t see his shoulders under the grip of the tree-things, though, and his arms were twisted behind him in handcuffs.

 

But overall, Lance wasn’t hurt. He was alive and in one piece. Keith lifted his eyes to Lance’s.

 

Lance seemed to be completing a similar evaluation of Keith, his eyes roving over every inch of him. Keith saw the other Paladin relax ever so slightly as he arrived at the same conclusion: Alive. In one piece.

 

Lance met his gaze. Keith raised his eyebrows, almost imperceptibly, in a question. Lance gave a short nod.

 

He was okay.

 

Keith let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. Lance was okay. Lance was okay. Lance was okay. Whatever else happened, Keith could get through this if his teammates were okay. He nodded back.

 

He looked up to glare at the lead tree-person, ready to yell at it again if it tried to ask him any more questions. He still needed to see Pidge, and he wasn't about to compromise with only half his demand met.

 

… But it didn't say anything. It was watching him-- and watching Lance. Its black holes had followed their entire interaction very carefully.

 

Keith felt the little sense of power he had ooze away.  Why was it looking at them like that? Were they bringing Pidge or not? He scrambled to regain some semblance of control over the situation.

 

“Where’s Pidge?” He demanded. He tried to grab some of the conviction he felt just moments ago.  “The...the other one?”

 

Lance startled when, somewhat to Keith's surprise, the tree-creature actually responded.

 

_“It will only be brought if it is needed.”_

 

Ice needled Keith's gut. There was something… _threatening_ in its tone this time. He clenched his teeth.

 

His authority was gone.

 

 

 

xxx

 

 

 

Lance was pretty sure he was going to vomit.

 

His diplomatic-route tally (which had gone down three or four points when he’d seen Keith _on the ground_ but back up one when he realized he wasn’t actually hurt) plummeted at the tree-creature’s chilling non-sequitur.

 

What the hell had it meant by that? What had happened to Pidge? God, what was going _on?_

 

Across from him, Keith’s eyes narrowed, but he didn’t reply. He still managed to look furious, but Lance saw something in his face… waiver just a little.

 

Lance swallowed, pushing back the taste of bile threatening to evacuate him. He briefly considered the odds of him breaking away from his guards (low), freeing Keith (lower), and both of them getting to the door (lowest)--but that almost definitely wasn’t going to work. Instead, he turned his head to look at the creature that had spoken.

 

“Well, um… I don’t know what Keith here did to make you all so jumpy...” he said, trying to put an air of nonchalance in his words, although he felt anything but relaxed.

 

The creature stepped around him, behind the guard on his left. Lance tried to crane his neck to follow it, but it had moved out of his view. He locked eyes with Keith instead. Keith looked… _scared_.

 

“...But we’d really like to emphasize that we mean no harm, and we’d like to have a more-- uh-- organized discussion between our groups.”

 

Keith reformed his glare and looked over Lance's head, at the creature.

 

“And not that we don’t appreciate current company--”

 

Lance’s voice rose in pitch and tempo as the guards forced him to his knees and stepped away. Every muscle in Keith's body seemed to tighten.

 

“--but we usually have those kinds of discussions with all of our team present, so if we could--”

 

“ _No!”_ Keith jerked  _hard_ against his restraints. 

 

Lance didn’t have time to turn before his head exploded in pain.

 

Pain, and fire.

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And, Lo!, the shit doth hit the fan. 
> 
> This was a short chapter. I'm okay with that.
> 
> Kudos are silver, comments are gold. 
> 
> Thanks to everyone who's posted comments-- I really enjoy reading them! A lot.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, friends. Now would be a great time to review the tags on this work. Take care of yourselves.

About half a varga after Pidge, Keith, and Lance left the Green Lion, Coran’s voice projected into Yellow’s cockpit.

 

“The base’s power is active.”

 

Hunk turned Yellow away from the green planet, facing her out to any potential threat. This was the most dangerous part of the whole mission-- Pidge had to get the base’s computers running to actually hack into anything, but it was also the most likely way to alert the Galra Empire that something was up. They were hoping that the area wasn’t actively being monitored anymore, and that the base wouldn’t automatically send out communications.

 

“Be alert, everyone,” said Shiro.

 

Hunk and Yellow eyed the star-speckled skies.

 

“...hmmm, that’s strange,” muttered Coran over the comms.

 

Hunk didn’t like strange. “What?” he asked.

 

“The entire base has been activated, not just the computers.”

 

There was a few ticks pause. That _was_ strange. Yellow stirred a little at his discomfort.

 

“The resolution isn’t fantastic, but the Castle’s tracking of the Paladins’ armor and the Green Lion indicates all four are now inside. No additional activity on the biosensor.”

 

Well, that sounded reasonable. Yellow sent him a wave of reassurance.

 

“Perhaps Pidge found something of importance and needed extra energy to pursue it?” asked Allura from the Blue Lion.

 

“Yeah, probably,” answered Hunk, “Must be a doozy of a something.”

 

That would be a nice surprise-- they hadn't expected too much from this mission.

 

“That's excellent!” exclaimed Allura.

 

“No external signals are exiting the system,” reported Coran, “All activity should go unnoticed.”

 

Tension melted from the three support ships at the announcement. Hunk kept watching Yellow’s scanners, of course, but they all fell into casual conversation as they waited. (Coran, at one point, began demanding details from Hunk and Shiro of the Earth creature called a “beaver.” As Hunk explained they were like large mice that built dams with branches and mud that they slapped with their tails, Allura insisted they were all making it up just to mess with her.)

 

However, all discussion--of woodland creatures or otherwise--fell away, forgotten, as minutes ticked away and they approached the two-varga mark. Anxious silence filled the comms. Hunk had expected to hear back from the others by now. Pidge might have gotten lost in her hacking and forgotten to send a message back, but Keith would have been breathing down her neck this whole time and sent her to Green before the two vargas were up. And Lance, meanwhile, would have nothing better to do than be the group time-keeper.

 

Hunk’s stomach dropped as they officially passed two vargas.

 

“Um, I’m going to ping the Green Lion,” he said.

 

“Good idea,” said Shiro. His voice was clipped with worry.

 

Hunk pressed a few buttons, and waited. He could feel Yellow pushing with her consciousness, trying to reach her sister, but Green was too far. His console indicated the ping had been received, but Pidge didn’t answer.

 

“She’s not picking up.” Hunk said, finally.

 

There was a strained pause.

 

 _Why wouldn’t Pidge pick up?_ Hunk worried.  It’s not like they could’ve misjudged how long it took to get back, if Green was right in the base with them. Did something go wrong? What could have happened that kept them from filling in their team?   

 

“I’ll send a message directly to the base’s communications,” said Coran.

 

There was a risk that this kind of contact could be picked up by a neighboring active base, but no one objected. There was another long pause. They’d reached 5 minutes past the deadline.

 

“They’re not answering,” Coran said, softly.

 

Fear snatched at Hunk. Now what? In the case of an external attack, he and Yellow had been tasked with swooping in to extract Keith and Lance, and then get Pidge back to Green while Allura covered them. Then they’d have high-tailed it back to the Castle and worm-holed away. But nothing was supposed to happen _inside_ the base, once they’d made sure it was empty. The two-varga limit was just a standard precaution. This was supposed to be an _easy_ mission.

 

“Guys, Yellow and I are going down--”

 

“No, Hunk," said Shiro, cutting him off. "If something happened--”

 

“ _If?_ ” Hunk interrupted angrily “Shiro, clearly something happened, and someone needs to go down there right _now_.”

 

“No,” Shiro repeated, “ _If_ something happened, you guys can’t go stumbling into the same thing. We need to regroup.”

 

Hunk was pretty sure he needed to go smashing Yellow into some walls and bring his friends home. But Shiro continued, always the voice of reason.

 

“You and Allura need to come back to the Castle, and we’ll come up with a plan and approach together. We'll start heading towards you.”

 

Hunk seethed in silence for a moment.

 

“Hunk,” Allura said, gently, “Shiro’s right. We need to go back for now.”

 

He sighed.

 

Well, cheeseballs. Of course Shiro was right. And Hunk _knew_ he was right. It didn’t make it any easier, though.

 

“Okay, fine,” he said, “I’m coming.”

 

Despite Yellow's ripple of dissatisfaction, Hunk turned her away from the green planet-- away from Lance, Pidge, and Keith-- and flew towards the Castle.  

 

 

 

xxx

 

 

 

The tree-creature lurched towards Lance and whipped its fibrous finger to his head.

 

Lance _screamed_. His voice echoed on the walls of the small room and rang in Keith’s ears. Lance wrenched to the side, trying to get away, and crashed to the floor. But the finger, long and ropelike, followed him. The creature itself barely moved at all.

 

Lance thrashed-- his feet scrambling for purchase on the metal-- but his body jack-knifed in pain. He was _writhing_ . The creature didn’t seem to be doing anything but touching him, but Lance was _screaming._

 

And Keith was screaming, too.

 

He tugged against the manacles. His shoulders hurt-- he ignored them.

 

“ _Lance! Lance!”_

 

Lance’s convulsions only worsened. He didn’t stop screaming. Keith braced his feet against the floor, trying to push himself up.

 

“Stop! Stop! _Lance!”_

 

Finally, the creature removed its finger, and Lance stilled. He curled into a ball on his side, head against his knees. His eyes were squeezed closed, brow furrowed, as if trying to expel whatever had just happened from his memory. His chest was heaving, and his breath was coming in ragged gasps.

 

“Lance!” Keith yelled, “Lance!”

 

But Lance didn’t answer him. He didn't lift his head.

 

“Look at me!” Keith begged.

 

His eyes didn’t open.

 

Keith’s heartbeat was rushing in his ears, and his own breathing was coming much, much too shallow.  What had it _done_ to him? All it did was touch him and it had done _that._

 

Keith realized the creature was looking at him--had it said something? It took another step towards Lance.

 

“Get away from him! _No!”_

 

Lance’s head slammed against the metal as the finger met his temple. His scrambling was more desperate this time, and his screams rose in pitch. His arms were jerking against the cuffs as he tried to fight away the source of the pain.

 

“ _Stop! Stop! Stop!”_

 

But the creature ignored Keith. It continued for an eternity.

 

When the creature finally pulled away again, Lance went limp.  Keith’s heart climbed into his throat. Finally, Lance let out a small, pitiful whimper and pulled weakly back into his balled-up position.

 

Keith sobbed. _Oh, God._

 

The monster was still watching him. It had spoken. Addressed him. Keith desperately tried to piece the sounds together into something that made sense-- but he was too late. Lance started screaming again.

 

Keith screamed with him--but he wasn’t screaming in words anymore. He was useless. He couldn’t reach Lance. He couldn’t help him. The creature was hurting Lance to get to Keith. This was his fault-- he'd messed up-- and he couldn't do anything about it.

 

When, after an age, it stopped again, Keith frantically honed in on what the monster was asking.

 

“ _Are you with the Galran Empire?_ ”

 

 _What?_ Keith would’ve thought _they_ were with the Galra. But did that make sense? What did it want to hear? What would make it _stop_?

 

Keith didn't have time to think up anything besides the truth-- the monster moved to touch Lance again.

 

“ _No!_ No we’re not! We’re the Paladins of Voltron! _”_  Keith almost stumbled over the words in his rush to get them out.

 

Mercifully, it paused. But when it spoke again, its eerie voice was filled with something that could only be described as distaste.

 

“ _We have never heard of Paladins of Voltron.”_

 

Keith's eyes widened. It touched Lance, and the screaming began again.

 

“No! We’re the Paladins of Voltron! Voltron! The Coalition! Defenders of the Universe! _Voltron!_ ” Keith shouted over Lance. He was rambling, hoping something would stick.

 

_“You are lying.”_

 

The screaming and thrashing continued.

 

“ _No!_ We’re Voltron! _Voltron!”_

 

Keith felt helpless, _useless._ He had to make this stop--he had to get to Lance, who was contorting in pain just feet in front of him. He needed to get the monster away, get Lance _away_ from it. He pulled against the manacles, but they still didn't budge. He needed to _help_ him _._ He was panicking. He had to do _something. Anything._

 

Desperately, Keith threw his mind forward, as if he were trying to find Black. He felt himself extend into the room, groping. He was searching and stretching--trying to connect to the other Paladin, like they did when they formed Voltron.

 

And, like when they formed Voltron, Keith found him.

 

Lance’s mind was red. Keith could feel it burning with the intense fire of his Lion, but with streaks of blue in its center. But instead of the steady energy that usually emanated from each of the Paladins, Keith brushed against something boiling and twisting.

 

_Oh my God._

 

The red was deforming, pushing and pulling on itself. It expanded outward from Lance, untethering and reaching for purchase. Every inch of it was broadcasting incredible, awful pain.

 

Keith recoiled--he had never felt something like this-- something so _horrible_. And it was coming from Lance.

 

No, it _was_ Lance.

 

His mind--his life force, his energy, _Lance_ \-- was being destroyed. The tree-creature was attacking him from the inside, tearing at everything that made him who he was.

 

Keith pushed his own energy to Lance’s. He tried to grab it and stop its twisting, to hold it in and shield it. He tried to keep Lance's mind together. But it was like pushing his palms against a pane of glass--and Keith was trapped outside, only able to watch as the red grew larger.

 

Keith could only press against Lance as he was torn apart.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shout out to IcyPanther for the word "cheeseballs."
> 
> Kudos are like salt, comments are like sugar. I fucking love them. 
> 
> Thanks to everyone who's been commenting! It's nice to know real people are reading this.


	7. Chapter 7

Pidge’s legs had begun to ache, but she didn't move as Green counted out the minutes. The Lion lent her some of the patience of a being that had waited ten thousand years for her Paladin.

 

But that damned door _still_ hadn't opened-- and neither of them could suppress the anxiety that made Pidge want to crawl out of her skin. In fact, her worry seemed to feed into Green's, and Pidge was pretty sure they were going to get stuck in some kind of exhausting metaphysical positive feedback loop if they didn't do something about it soon.

 

At her thought, Green tried to hide her negative emotions and project a sense of determination instead, but Pidge could still feel her worrying.

 

When the two vargas had come and gone, Pidge let herself fall back onto her butt and stretched out her burning legs with a grunt. She needed a new plan. Clearly, she hadn’t been interesting enough for these tree-people to come and check on her by now. Ingrates.  

 

Whatever, their loss, she thought in frustration. She'd just have to wait for the other half of Team Voltron to come raging in to rescue her. They were pretty good at that. How long would it take for them to realize something was up and come down? Twenty minutes? Thirty? They were probably already freaking out, honestly, and were now just figuring out how best to tackle the problem.

 

Probably either Hunk or Allura would go to the signal being emitted from wherever their armor was stashed, and the other would go to Green. As soon as Green was freed, she'd come rushing to Pidge and she'd be in the clear (Pidge had yet to see a wall that could stand up to an angry Lion of Voltron).

 

So, the trick would be finding Keith and Lance. Preferably quickly, before their captors could try anything shifty. That was something the Galra would do-- they’d want to keep Team Voltron dismantled, and so they would move their prisoners to keep them out of reach...or worse….

 

She gritted her teeth. Come on, she told herself, these guys weren’t Galra… (But they could be working with them). They probably didn’t even know who had stumbled onto their planet...(But what if they did?).

 

Shit. All of this waiting was frying her nerves. Now that she wasn't actively prepping to dart the hell out of here at any second, her thoughts threatened to drift to all of the _what ifs_ that still surrounded the state of the other Paladins. She really hated not knowing.  

 

They’d have to find Lance and Keith quickly. She knew that (most logically), they were sitting in cells just like this one, probably bored to tears (so no need to freak out). And they were probably close by--few Galra outposts had very extensive containment setups. She found herself straining her ears, as if she might suddenly hear something that would identify Lance or Keith on just the other side of the wall. She realized, though, that an entire firefight could be happening around her, and she would be none the wiser.

 

Oh. Fuck.  

 

What if Lance and Keith were fighting for their lives right outside her door and she didn't even know? One of them could have run past her--looking for her, looking for help-- and she wouldn't have been there for them, or even known to pound on the door to tell them where she was. They could be hurt, or...or....

 

Her anxiety was about to go spinning out of control. She needed to _know._ She was only going to come up with worse and worse _what ifs._

 

Green's mind wrapped around her snuggly, even as Pidge just wanted to cry. She crooned soothing ideas. _It's all right. Everything will be okay. The others will be here soon._

 

Pidge held back her tears--but she wanted to scream until someone answered her, listen for the sound of blasters, or feel for the shake of a Lion landing nearby. She felt so _powerless_...but she let her Lion hold her.

 

Eventually, she loosened into a passive acceptance. She tried not to think about anything at all.

 

But then, to her surprise, she _did_ feel something.

 

It wasn't a landing Lion, though. She focused in on the sensation-- she wasn't even sure she had _felt_ it at all. Well, maybe not in the traditional sense. It was more like when Green was far away and more of a tickle in her mind than the hulking presence she was now. It was growing stronger, though, and with a start she recognized it.

 

 _Lance!_  Holy Quiznack, she could feel him! He was there!

 

After forming and reforming Voltron countless times, it was one of the most familiar presences in the world to Pidge, leaving no doubt as to what it was. Each of the Paladins had formed intimate channels into each other’s minds, and if Pidge really _listened,_ she could feel little sparks from them even outside of the Lions. It was loudest when that person was especially emotional-- like when Allura was pissed or Lance was particularly pleased with himself.

 

Although, when Pidge brought Lance’s red energy into focus now, she realized it was filled with a sensation that she'd never felt from one of her teammates before. It was intense. And growing. It was...pain? Her stomach flipped. But, no, it was….

 

 _Agony_.

 

Pidge just managed to lean over to the corner of her cell before she vomited.

 

_Indescribable agony._

 

She staggered to her feet and crossed the short distance to the cell door. She slammed her clenched fists into the metal.

 

There was something else, too. A second, black energy was arcing up to meet the red. It was trying to grasp it, stay with it as it churned. It was emanating more foreign emotions-- fear, panic, desperation.  

 

Pidge rammed her shoulder against the door, putting all of her weight into the blow. She had to get to Lance and Keith. She had to _stop_ this.

 

It wasn’t enough. The metal didn’t budge--and the red was growing larger.

 

Pidge screamed at the door incoherently before collapsing against it. She sank to the floor and shoved her hands against her head.

 

“Green! Make it stop! _Make it stop!_ ” she begged.

 

But Green couldn’t reach the other Paladins-- she _couldn't_ make it stop-- so she curled her mind against Pidge, instead. The Lion put all of herself that she could into the embrace, trying to drown out the pain crashing through the air toward her--but fiery tendrils burned through.

 

Pidge wrapped her legs to her chest, as if she could hide from the flames and the agony they held. She sobbed, and tears streamed down her face.

 

_What was happening?_

 

 

 

 

Xxx

 

 

 

 

When the tree-creature finally removed its finger, the churning slowed to a seeth. The red nebulus retracted slightly--but it was still much, much too _wrong._

 

Lance collapsed against the ground, on his back, his chest heaving heavily. His eyes were pressed closed, but he didn't curl in on himself again. He didn't seem to have the energy to. Each breath brought a rasping gasp.

 

Keith wanted to be back in the Castle. He wanted to be somewhere where this whole nightmare had never happened-- just anywhere else but _here_. He wanted to shout out to Lance, try again to get him to look at him, but he was afraid the creature would start again if he did.

 

“I’ll tell you whatever you want,” he said instead, eyes on Lance’s terrified face, “Just _stop.”_

 

Lance didn’t seem to notice Keith’s proclamation.

 

The tree-creature didn’t move from where it stood, directly behind where Lance had fallen. Keith zeroed in on its hand, which stayed by its side. The other tree-creatures guarding them hadn’t so much as twitched since this whole horror started.

 

_“Why are you here?”_

 

Keith slumped back in relief. It hadn’t interpreted his statement as disobedience.  

 

“We wanted to find information about the Galra,” he rushed out. He really hoped this was what it wanted to hear, “we didn’t think anyone would be here.”

 

Thankfully, it seemed satisfied with this answer and didn’t move. Keith moved his eyes to the black pits staring back at him.

 

 _“How did you find this place?”_ it asked.

 

“We’ve been to other bases and found records of the abandoned one here,” Keith said, again, quickly.

 

_“Do others know you’re here?”_

 

Despite his racing heartbeat, Keith hesitated. Shit. The truth definitely _wouldn’t_ be want it wanted to hear. The thing clearly didn’t like having unexpected guests, but telling it they were alone would give them no reason to keep from killing them all.

 

Lance’s gasps rang in his ears. He had to say something-- quickly. He narrowed his eyes.

 

“A few,” he said, as evenly as he could, “just the rest of Voltron-- 4 others.”

 

The creature reached out towards Lance. Keith launched himself against the manacles, “ _No!_ ”

 

But its finger set against Lance’s forehead, and Lance’s back arched violently, slamming his head into the ground.

 

Keith was going to break into pieces. He had done what they’d wanted-- he’d answered it, told it the _truth_ \-- and it was punishing him again.

 

All he had were his words, and even those didn’t matter anymore.

 

Lance’s screaming was coming out hoarser now. There was a small trickle of blood on the metal where his head had hit repeatedly. Keith’s black energy could barely stay alongside the red-- it was thrashing like its owner and expanding again, rapidly. Lance was going to _break._

 

 _No, no, no_ . He tried to envelope the red, push it back together, but it was too _unhinged_ \-- he couldn’t wrap himself around.

 

Keith felt tears in his eyes by the time the pain stopped.

 

 _“There are three powerful battleships in our airspace, with a fourth now in our captivity,”_ the creature said, still as stone. “ _Why?”_

 

“That's them! Voltron!” Keith insisted, he leaned towards it, trying to will it to understand,  “They won't hurt you-- they're here with us!”

 

The monster pressed on, ignoring most of what he'd said.

 

“ _The lead ship is broadcasting a transmission and requesting a connection.”_

 

Keith’s heart leapt. The others-- they were trying to find him, and they were going to get him, Lance, and Pidge out of this hell. Shiro, Allura, Hunk-- they would fix it, they would fix everything.

 

They would fix everything he couldn't.

 

“They're looking for us-- answer them! They'll tell you everything I said!”

 

But the creature stepped towards Keith, in a threat.

 

“ _And confirm our presence?”_ It sounded angry, _“Do you think we are imbeciles?”_

 

Keith wildly hoped it would hit him instead, but it turned back to  Lance.

 

“No!” Keith didn’t know if he was denying the creature or begging with it.

 

Lance's struggles were becoming weaker, his screaming now just quiet groans-- but his mind thrashed more wildly and violently than before.

 

“ _We do not tolerate outsiders.”_

 

The groans turned back to shrieks.

 

“ _We have lived in peace since the Galran intruders left our planet.”_

 

“We can help you! We’re _Voltron!”_ Keith yelled. Lance spasmed, choking on his own breath before resuming his scream.

 

When it spoke again, it did so slowly. Disdainfully.

 

_“We do not need your help.”_

 

The fire was building. It was stretching thin. It was churning and ripping and expanding beyond Keith’s reach. Keith screamed more _\--Stop! Stop! Please!_ \-- but he’d stopped hearing himself.

 

The creatures had never intended to let them leave. They may have wanted him to talk, but nothing he could ever say was going to change what would happen.

 

Keith was no longer coherent. All he could manage was the same plea, over and over.  “ _We’re Voltron, we’re Voltron, we’re Voltron.”_

 

They were going to kill them.

 

The fire had crescendoed to spread beyond the infrastructure of the base. It was reaching out to the forest around them, and up into the air above.

 

They were going to kill them. Starting with Lance.  

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, look. We've caught up to the teaser. 
> 
> Kudos make my heart flutter. And increase visibility. Comments make me run around my yard all excited. 
> 
> Thanks for all the amazing comments! You guys make me feel like a rock star.


	8. Chapter 8

Blue tried to send Allura calming, happy thoughts as they landed in their hangar, but Allura could tell that even the playful Guardian of Water was beginning to worry.  Blue didn't like that something was upsetting her Paladin so much.

 

 _No, I'm all right,_ Allura told her as the Lion lowered her head for her to exit, _I'm sure it's nothing-- I’m sure they’re fine. I'm overreacting._ But lying to a Lion that could see her every thought was an exercise in futility.  Blue called to her, so she paused on the Lion’s ramp.

 

Blue carefully touched on each of horrible scenarios that Allura had tried to exile to the back of her mind.  Blue gently-- very gently-- pushed them each far, far away, where they could no longer intrude.

 

Blue and Allura would find the Black, Red, and Green Paladins, she insisted, and they would keep them safe.

 

“Thank you, Blue,” Allura whispered. With a new serene determination, she hurried to the bridge.  

 

When Allura reached the main control room, Shiro and Coran were standing at the central console examining holoscreens that displayed maps and readouts from the green planet. Coran had an expression of focused consternation, but Shiro appeared so upset that Allura guessed the former Black Paladin would end up in a shouting match with the current if this whole fiasco turned out to be a just a failure of communication.

 

Well, if that were indeed the scenario, Allura was going to be doing some shouting, too.   

 

Hunk followed close behind her, and they joined Coran and Shiro in the center of the room.

 

“So what’s the plan?” Hunk demanded, arms crossed.

 

“We should approach together,” said Shiro. He turned to face them. “When we reach the atmosphere, you two will get into range for the helmet comms and try contacting them from the air.”

 

“And if they don’t answer?” asked Hunk.

 

“Then we go in,” Allura said bluntly, leaving no room for argument, “We’ll follow the Paladins’ signals and the Green Lion’s. ”

 

“Coran and I will cover you from the Castle,” added Shiro.

 

Hunk raised an eyebrow.

 

“And about how far out are we?” he asked.

 

Coran lifted his gaze to meet Hunk’s. His expression was hard with what Allura, who had grown up under the watchful eye of the man, recognized as worry.

 

“About twenty dobashes,” he said, “we’re still only about half way across the planetary system, and there would be no room to wormhole any closer.”

 

Allura’s heart sank. Twenty dobashes felt like an age right now.

 

“Coran,” she said, breaking the silence that had settled, “Can we divert power from any non-essential--”

 

She broke off, frowning. Something had tickled at the very edge of her awareness.

 

Coran glanced up at her. “Princess…?”

 

But Allura waved him away, rather rudely. What was that?

 

Next to her, Hunk’s brow was furrowed in concentration. Poor Coran and Shiro just looked confused as they watched them.

 

She could _feel_ something. It was far, far away, and was just a pinprick in her consciousness--almost intangible. But there was most definitely something _there._

 

With an effort, she brought the small spark into clarity. It was growing and getting closer. It felt familiar. She could see the red, now, mixed with traces of blue--not a garish red like that of blood, but a warm color, filled with passion. It felt like--

 

“Lance…?” whispered Hunk.

 

\--and then Allura was nearly bowled over by another sensation, like the small one she’d been listening to, but so much closer and so _powerful._ The Red Lion’s consciousness slammed into her, overrunning all of her own thoughts and awareness. She gasped--she’d never felt something like this before-- never from another Paladin’s Lion.

 

And, _oh Ancients,_ Red was filling her with the most intense rage and _fear_ that she didn’t know if her body could physically hold it. Blue reared in her mind, trying to protect her--but she, too, was nearly overwhelmed by the emotion pummeling her from her sister.

 

The Castle shook, throwing the four of them to the ground.

 

Red was scared, _panicking_.

 

_She needed to find her Paladin she needed to protect her Paladin she needed to save her Paladin._

 

The Castle lurched again. Roars echoed into the bridge.

 

_They were hurting her Paladin they were hurting her Paladin they were hurting her Paladin._

 

Red was slamming herself into the door of her hanger. She couldn’t get it open. She’d smashed it in her panic.

 

_They were KILLING her Paladin._

 

She screamed.

 

_THEY WERE KILLING HER PALADIN._

 

“Allura! Allura!”

 

_THEY WERE KILLING HER PALADIN._

 

“Allura! _Please!_ ”

 

_THEY WERE KILLING HER PALADIN._

 

“Let me out! Let me out! _”_ she shouted.

 

_THEY WERE KILLING HER PALADIN._

 

“What? Allura, please, I don’t understand!”

 

A piece of clarity grappled for her attention. There was desperation and fear in the voice yelling to her. Coran's voice. And it was for her. Allura.

 

She pulled her mind back to herself, even as Red’s threatened to overwhelm her again.

 

She had wedged herself against the base of the console and curled against it. Her hands were pressed against her head, and Coran was kneeling in front of her, looking close to tears.

 

“Let her out…” she gasped, “th-the Lion.”

 

Understanding crossed his face. He lept up and rushed to the forward command station, but he was beaten by Red, who blew the hanger open with a blast of lava and fire.

 

Allura let out a sob, relieved, as she felt her rocket out. But to her dismay, there was another sweep of emotion as the Black Lion flashed out of her hanger and followed.

 

The fear emanating from Red and Black was slow to fade, but finally Blue was able to flood back to her and wash her in cool, soothing waters.

 

Hunk had fallen next to her, Allura realized, and Shiro was crouched over him. Hunk was starting to sit up, but Shiro was looking out the massive windows, eyes wide and horrified, fixated to the point where Red and Black had disappeared into the dark sky.  

 

“Oh my God,” he breathed.

 

Allura pushed herself to her feet, grabbing Hunk’s arm and pulling him up with her. He stumbled into her with a grunt, but then took off running to Yellow’s zipline without so much as a stagger, face filled with wordless terror.

 

“We have to get down there _now!_ ” yelled Allura, turning toward the chute that would take her back to Blue, not waiting for Shiro and Coran.  Fear thrummed through her, but she used it to propel her faster.

 

Otherwise, it would consume her.

 

 

 

Xxx

 

 

 

The red pushed harder against Pidge. It was expanding faster-- so, so fast-- it was huge, now.  Something had changed.

 

“No!” she screamed. She leapt from the floor of the cell and looked up into the air as if she could find the seething mass with her eyes.

 

It was stretched too far-- it was ripping at the edges and its insides were folding on itself, crashing into Pidge’s mind like a river on rocks. Pidge felt herself pushing back-- a green energy radiating from her with panic. The Green Lion’s mind pulsed next to hers, but Pidge couldn't find purchase on the red to grab and hold it.

 

And she could feel something else. It was a more solid flash of red, but it was so far it felt small. The Red Lion was flying towards Lance as fast as she could without destroying him and half the planet in a collision. She was throwing her energy forward, scrambling for her Paladin. She could feel him, but not _touch_ him. She was still too far, far away.

 

She wouldn’t make it in time.

 

Pidge would have hesitated to ever describe a Lion of Voltron as _screaming_ \-- but there was just no other word for what she was feeling from Red.

 

Pidge’s energy spread further. It grasped at Green’s in desperation. It was growing larger, stronger. Pidge had never felt herself looming with such intensity.

 

But she’d never been this scared before.

 

She was so, so scared.

 

Pidge was massive, now. She was spanning the distance between her and Green, crossing through the metal walls and doors of the base. Her energy melded with Green’s, propelling itself inside of hers--like when they flew together.

 

Pidge _joined_ Green.

 

Together, they were an arm of Voltron. Where Pidge could only push and touch before, she could do more. She could _move_ and _grab_ and _cut_. They were a knife-- Green was their base, holding them up and giving them power, and Pidge was their point, guiding and focusing them.

 

Pidge stretched towards the fulcrum of the fiery cloud, around the black, and _reached--_

 

\--but the red mass collapsed before she could take hold.

 

 

 

Xxx

 

 

 

Keith fell forward into the vacuum that opened.

 

Lance’s screams had stopped. His face was turned away.

 

_This couldn’t be happening._

 

There was nothing there. There was no red pressing back against his black.

 

_Oh God, this couldn’t be happening._

 

Lance--one fifth of the universe's best hope, his teammate, his right arm, his family-- _wasn’t there._ A strangled sob crawled from Keith's throat.

 

_How could he have let this happen?_

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "End of Act Two."
> 
> Kudos are like doggies. Comments are like puppies. 
> 
> Thanks for all of the comments and kudos, everybody! You guys are really helping my low-as-shit self-confidence.
> 
> Fanart from Icecream_Paladin:   
> https://pin.it/4ye25kweds33n3


	9. Chapter 9

_No! No! No!_ _No!_

 

Pidge and Green’s minds glared with alarm and horror. What happened? Pidge had been so _close--_ but she couldn’t see the red anymore.

 

The black was losing intensity. It was growing, but slowly. Emanating cold, dark hopelessness and anguish. It was adrift, lost, _flailing._

 

Red was definitely screaming, now.

 

Green pushed Pidge forward. Keep going. Keep trying.

 

She dove past the black and reached down, searching lower and deeper. She hunted desperately through emptiness, where Lance had disappeared.

 

_There!_

 

It was just a hint of an ember, but it was _still_ _there_. A minute glow that Red was too far to feel. A small glint that Keith wasn’t powerful enough on his own to see.

 

But it was fading fast.

 

Pidge acted on an instinct she didn’t understand. She _grabbed_ Keith and tugged him with them.

 

She circled them around the ember. She _pierced_ it and filled it with all of them-- with her, Keith, and Green. Their energies poured and mixed into the red, making it bigger.

 

They pulled it up, like a beacon, as high as they could reach --

 

Lance was wrenched into consciousness as Red’s mind slammed into theirs.

 

Extraordinary relief fluxed through the shared awareness. It was hard to tell who it came from. Maybe from them all.

 

The Red Lion pushed and lifted the red energy-- fuller and fuller until it swelled.

 

Pidge could see through Keith’s eyes-- she saw as Lance jerked with life and coughed. And she felt as Lance’s body bombarded him with the need to _breathe_. She saw metal walls lit with purple light as Lance’s eyes flew open.

 

They all saw a tall, wooden creature step back in surprise.

 

Lance rolled onto his side and pushed himself towards Keith, but one of the guards recovered from its shock and snatched him by the upper arm. It hauled him back, dragging him on the floor.

 

The lead tree-thing, realizing something was wrong, must have barked out some human-intelligible orders--the two guards by Keith grabbed him roughly by the shoulders in tandem. One released each manacle from the wall, and they lifted him and made to bodily drag him out the door. Keith landed a kick to one, with an animalistic snarl, in what would have been its stomach, but that only caused the fourth and final guard to grab his legs and join the other two in escorting him out. The door closed behind them.

 

The guard’s hand sliced into Lance’s bicep as he tried to get his feet beneath him and stand. It pulled him back down. Keith bucked and twisted as he was carried down a hallway. Pidge slammed her hands against her cell door.

 

Lance tried to pull away, but the tree-creature leaned in and again its hand alighted on his head.

 

A _jarring_ rippled through the shared bond. They braced themselves against one another. The Lions shifted the weight of the attack to better hold it at bay. The five held together, even as they began to fray at the edges.

 

Not as fast as her lithe sister, the Black Lion came into reach.

 

She poured into Keith, supporting him-- completing him. She lined them all with herself and rounded them out.

 

Together, they stood under the strike.

 

They pushed back.

 

They reflected the attack back to the tree-creature. They grabbed it, used its power against it, and they snaked like lightning to the other four.  All five let out a high, _piercing_ sound--like an ancient forest in a storm, or the hull of a ship on rough seas. The strike cut off abruptly.

 

Keith was dropped a good several feet to land forcefully on his hip. He struggled to right himself while his entire side screamed in pain.  The three guards had collapsed around him and he had to disentangle himself from branch-like limbs. None of them moved to try to stop him.

 

Lance, still handcuffed, crawled with his elbow away from the two now crumpled aliens, aiming for the far wall. They felt all of his body burn with the effort.

 

Keith forced himself to his feet and ran back to the door. A control panel shone next to it. He shoved his hand against it. The door, thankfully, hissed open.

 

He rushed to Lance, grabbed his uninjured arm, and pulled him to his feet. Lance's knees buckled, and dizziness spread through their minds. Keith quickly braced him on his shoulder and reached around to support him under the arms, his other arm gripping against his chest.

 

Even then, Lance struggled to remain upright, and most of his weight was distributed clumsily onto Keith.  But it would have to do-- the hand of one alien twitched. Three Lions and an extra Paladin urged their willpower to them.

 

Like this, they stumbled into the corridor, and ran as best they could.

 

They navigated through a bifurcation in the hall, then another, following Pidge’s green towards its origin. But both were already feeling the drag of exertion.

 

They could do this, they could do this, six minds chanted. They just had to keep _moving_ . The Red Lion was so close, now--they just had to get far away from those aliens, then Red would be there, they'd get Pidge out...and everything else could be figured out later. _They were so close._

 

A turn around a third corner brought a shower of blasters.

 

Pidge shouted in alarm, and the three Lions roared in anger. Keith jerked Lance backwards, back into the shelter of the corridor they’d come. Lance’s weight dragged into his arm, and they both toppled to the ground.

 

The rest of the base was aware of their escape, and they were being cut off. They had glimpsed a near jungle of tree-people rushing towards the intersection.

 

Desperation-- it ripped across them.

 

Keith extracted his arm and jumped up, moving to Lance's head. He grabbed him under the arms to try and drag him to his feet--to get them away from the growing roar of wood on metal-- but they all knew the small army would round the corner and they'd be in sight, then set upon, in a matter of seconds.

 

Panic.

 

They wouldn't get far in those seconds.

 

Red wasn't there yet--

 

\--but something else _was._

 

Hunk and Allura were hurtling towards the planet, minds thrown forward.

 

They joined them. Hunk and Yellow were a boulder pushing them higher and holding them balanced. Allura and Blue wove between them and twined them all together.

 

Blazing white light. The full power of Voltron reverberated through the ground, the air, through each of them. So much greater than the sum of its parts.

 

 A wall of white formed around Lance and Keith as the aliens came into view. It pushed out, absorbing blasters. It pushed the first line of attackers into the line behind, then slammed them all further and further away.

 

White seeped into the door in front of Pidge, the tractor-beam holding Green, the handcuff on Lance, both manacles on Keith. It shattered them each in turn.

 

Red landed, and the ground shook. Metal screamed as she ripped through the first few levels of the compound far above with her mouth. The walls by Lance and Keith wavered. Green dropped her particle barrier and began tearing through the hangar door with her claws.

 

But their energy was losing definition--it became a storm of white racing further and further out. They weren't meant to join this way. Without the combined Voltron robot, their physical outlet, they were unwieldy. The remnants of rage, fear, and desperation drove them faster than they could control. The slower tree-people were engulfed and shattered to splinters. Walls and supports around the three Paladins bent and broke and slammed outwards. The base was crumbling--blue sky could be seen through holes in the ceiling and walls.

 

Pain.

 

The combined energy seared the Paladins’ veins, lighted their nerves. Their bodies couldn't hold it. They needed to stop, or they would be destroyed. They _had_ to stop.

 

_STOP._

 

The Paladins pushed the extraordinary power back to the Lions, and white was replaced by darkness.

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pidge and Green are hella stubborn. 
> 
> Kudos are like caffeine. Comments are like crack. 
> 
> Thanks for all the comments and support!


	10. Chapter 10

* * *

 

 

Darkness gave way to color.

 

 

 

 

Xxx

 

 

 

 

Keith emerged into a soft half-consciousness when a slight tremor shook the ground. A soothing presence that had been caressing his mind noticed him stir.

 

Safe, it told him. He was safe. The Paladins were safe. But it was time to wake up, now.

 

Keith didn’t want to wake up. This was nice, this sleep-like fuzziness. He wanted to stay here, with the strong presence cradling him.

 

It’s time to wake up, Black insisted gently. She gave him a light prod. Keith curled away-- it was peaceful here.

 

Black sent him a soft smiling feeling. I know, it seemed to say, but she’d still be there when he woke. Keith sent back an irritated wave of his mind. He was happy where he was, thanks.

 

The Lion pushed him slightly harder, and it was difficult to resist this time--like she were tipping the cradle she’d made for him. Keith acquiesced.

 

Fine.

 

Keith opened his eyes to find the underbelly of the Red Lion startlingly close to his face.

 

Black, quite forcefully now, repeated the feeling of “safe, safe, safe, everyone is safe.”  

 

That’s right. Keith knew that. He didn’t even have to look around to know that Lance was right next to him. And he knew Pidge was nearby with Green--and Hunk, Yellow, Allura, and Blue were somewhere in the sky. They’d all been safe when they disconnected. Black was here--he could feel her crouching as close to him as she could get, nearly standing over her smaller sister.

 

He turned his head, anyway. Lance was, indeed, practically in his lap and fast asleep--apparently the rumble of Black’s arrival not enough to wake him. He was lying on his back with his shoulder abutting Keith’s thigh, while the rest of him angled away to lie on what remained of the metal floor. With Red no doubt swimming through his mind, he actually managed to look pretty comfortable.

 

But even though Lance was almost smiling in his sleep, Keith could only hear him screaming. A rush of panic returned.

 

_Safe, safe, safe._

 

But they almost weren't--

 

_Safe._

 

\--But if Pidge hadn't come with Green when she did, Lance would be dead, almost definitely followed by Keith and Pidge herself. There'd be no Voltron anymore, and Keith was supposed to be its head. He'd almost let down the universe while he was supposed to be leading it to victory. He pressed his hands to his eyes, trying to forget the agony on Lance's face as Keith had failed them all.

 

“I can't do this, Black,” he whispered.

 

She wrapped him in her reassurance. He didn’t fail, she insisted. Everyone was safe now, and the universe still had Voltron.

 

 _But I almost lost it,_ he thought back.

 

Not his fault.

 

But Keith didn’t care if she thought it was his fault or not-- if Voltron survived or fell, it was his _responsibility._ When he was just a Paladin, he’d been ready to die for the universe if needed, because it was always just _him_. But, now, as leader, every decision he did or didn’t make carried the team--and everyone else in existence--with him. He was responsible for everything that happened to his team. And half of them had almost died.

 

Not his fault, Black repeated. Everyone was safe, and she and Keith would move forward from this, together.

 

Keith’s anger flared.

 

He didn’t _want_ to move forward with her. He had never wanted this role. Shiro, though, had come back and wanted it, and he would always do a better job at leading than Keith ever could. Why didn’t she let Shiro back in? Why did she even choose Keith in the first place?

 

Because she believed in him.

 

Well, Keith didn't “believe” in himself. He only became Black Paladin because Shiro was gone-- and now he was _back_ . They’d be better off without Keith--why was everyone still _pushing_ this on him? Why was _she?_

 

Black reached out to hold him.  Because she _believed_ in him.

 

But Keith pushed her away-- _Then don’t!_

 

She paused.

 

Keith’s anger dissolved, leaving raw and exposed pain. He couldn’t be their leader. He _shouldn’t_. Tears welled in his eyes, and he let them roll down his cheek.

 

The Lion regarded him. They sat in shared sorrow for a few, quiet minutes.

 

Eventually, she reached out again, more slowly.

 

They could consider this more, later, she told him. Right now, she pointed out, he had to get up. Their team was unconscious on a hostile planet that may only remain quiet for a short time, and Shiro was far away in the sky--likely worried out of his mind.

 

Keith sighed. Damn it, she was right. He needed to get up.

 

He took a few deep breaths to still his sobs, and wiped the tears from his eyes.  

 

Keith sat up carefully and looked around. Through Red’s legs and particle barrier, he could see that the only piece of the base left intact for a good stretch of distance in every direction seemed to be the floor he and Lance were lying on, which abruptly ended in a disk-shape where the shield they’d erected had been. Everything else lie in heaps of twisted metal, with the sickening exception of a few clusters of what looked like saw-dust scattered here and there.

 

Lance and Keith seemed to be on what used to be the ground level, so they luckily had nowhere to fall when everything collapsed. Through a part in the sea of debris, he could see the Green Lion crouched protectively to the ground, particle barrier up, about two hundred yards away. Obviously, Pidge was somewhere beneath her.

 

Keith noted that although his hip and both of his shoulders felt like they were really angry at him, he otherwise seemed okay to start  moving. He turned to Lance and maneuvered himself so he was seated next to him. There was blood oozing from the hairline behind his left ear, and his undersuit was ripped to reveal a bloody slice into his right bicep. Otherwise, he seemed uninjured.

 

“Lance,” he said softly, squeezing his shoulder.

 

Lance stirred slightly. He opened his eyes and looked at Keith. He looked completely unsurprised by Red’s bulk no more than six feet above their heads.

 

“Hey,” he said sleepily.

 

He shifted, and Keith helped him to sitting, although he left a supporting hand on his back. Lance rubbed his eyes, leaning forward. Keith almost felt guilty for waking him up. He looked exhausted-- like he hadn’t slept in weeks. Keith felt a pang of worry. Lance had seemed mentally intact since Red joined their bond, but….

 

“Lance,” he asked quietly, “are you okay?”

 

Lance frowned quizzically and rubbed his hand against his temple. “I think Voltron punched me in the head.”

 

Keith fumbled. He wasn't sure if that was supposed to be a joke or not. Lance looked too tired to even smile.

 

“Um, yeah... but are you _okay_?”

 

Lance looked up at him and furrowed his brow, like he were thinking about it.

 

Finally, “I'm not sure, ” he said quietly.

 

They were both silent for a few ticks. Keith didn’t know what to say to that.

 

“We should get going,” Keith sighed, “we need to wake up Pidge and get out of here.”

 

“Where is she?” asked Lance, although he turned his head towards where they’d felt her before Keith could answer. Once his eyes landed on Green, he pushed himself to standing. However, he swayed dangerously and Keith jumped up to stabilize him before he could overbalance completely.

 

Red actually growled at them.

 

“Uuh,” said Keith, quickly, “Maybe you should get into Red and head up to the Castle.” He really didn’t feel like facing the fire and fury of the Red Lion if, after everything that had happened, he let her Paladin trip and crack his skull open on a downed support beam.

 

Red’s growl ended in a soft huff, as if to say “Finally, someone’s talking some sense.”

 

Lance, though, looked like he was going to complain.

 

“You can wake up Hunk and Allura,” said Keith before he could open his mouth. Considering their own states, he was pretty sure they were both unconscious in their Lions. Black confirmed this, flashing a pair of images of Blue and Yellow both floating patiently a short distance out of orbit.

 

“Okay, fine,” sighed Lance, apparently placated. Or at least too tired to argue.

 

He let Keith pull his arm across his shoulders without protest. Keith picked out a smooth-ish path to Red’s front end, carefully keeping Lance pointed away from the piles of sawdust they passed as much as possible.

 

Luckily, Lance seemed to be fully occupied by the act of walking. His legs became stronger with each step, and Keith had to maneuver his weight over jagged obstacles less and less as they progressed. By the time they were climbing into Red’s mouth, he could almost walk up the ramp by himself--although that might have had something to do with the happy purr that rumbled around them.  

 

Once in the cockpit, Keith lowered Lance into the pilot's chair, who practically melted into it. Lance took both controls in his hands, and Red made a soft, satisfied hum.

 

Lance closed his eyes. Keith watched as the corners of his mouth turned up in a smile.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Angsty McAngstface just sassed his giant magical Lion and got away with it. 
> 
> Kudos are like chocolate. Comments are like peanut butter. 
> 
> Thank you for the support-- especially those of you who have left comments. You guys are great. I've told my therapist about you.


	11. Chapter 11

Everything felt right whenever Lance was with Red. Her pilot’s chair was beginning to feel like the most natural place in the universe he could be. So now, with her warmth all around him, he felt whole. 

 

She dove deep into his mind, examining it. There had always been the spots of blue, slowly transitioning. But now there were pieces of green and black, too. She nudged them gently, purring. They were almost imperceptibly shrinking--giving way to red--but for now, they were marks of the strength and love of their family. 

 

Red filled and surrounded him with her love, her protection, her power. 

 

Lance smiled. 

 

He opened his eyes again to look up at Keith, who’s downright agonized expression--which he’d been wearing since Lance woke up--had relaxed a little. 

 

“I’m going to go wake Pidge, okay?” said Keith. 

 

“Good--go mother-hen someone else,” he said lightly. Great! His first sass since… well, post- _ incident _ . 

 

Instead of clapping back, like he usually would, Keith actually made a little half-smile and turned to exit the cockpit. 

 

Lance directed his attention to the console. He opened Red’s communications systems, which were--uh oh-- lighting up with alerts like fireworks. The Castle had been sending out almost constant transmission requests for nearly fifteen minutes. 

 

Lance quickly accepted the most recent one blaring across the screen. 

 

“--lura? Hunk? We’re a few minutes out from intercepting.  _ Please _ pick up.  _ Anybody _ \--” 

 

Lance’s heart skipped a beat-- Shiro sounded so  _ scared _ . 

 

“Shiro!” he called. 

 

The face of the person in question popped up and filled the screen. 

 

“Lance!  _ Oh thank God-- _ are you okay?” 

 

Coran sidled into view, pushing Shiro partly out of the way, shouting his name.

 

Shiro’s eyes narrowed as he took in Lance’s conspicuously armor-less state and the blood smeared around his ear and down his neck. 

 

“Are you okay?” Shiro repeated, “What  _ happened? _ ” 

 

Lance skipped over the first question, not quite sure, in favor of the second. 

 

“Um, it’s hard to explain….” 

 

Well, maybe the second question wouldn't be much easier. He glanced between Coran and Shiro. Could he even put into words what the tree-things had done? Did he even  _ know _ what they’d done? He remembered….

 

His breath hitched. He remembered looking to Keith in desperation, and then the there was overwhelming, excruciating pain. Pain that had gone on forever--that had felt like it was breaking him from the inside out. It had stopped a few times, only to start again. He didn’t know how it had happened, or how long it had gone on, but he thought he was going to tear. 

 

And then he  _ had  _ torn. 

 

...But then Red had been there. She’d sewn him back and lifted him up. 

 

And she was here, now. She was all around him, lifting him again. She soothed the memories away in calming warmth. She was here, now, enveloping him. Lance was safe with her. 

 

Lance realized he had slumped forward in his chair--his forehead was nearly touching his knees. His breath was coming in rapid gulps, and he was gripping the controls so hard his knuckles had turned white. 

 

And he was scaring the bejesus out of Coran and Shiro. 

 

“Lance!  _ Lance! _ ” 

 

“Lance, I’m coming! I’m coming! Coran--ready a pod for take-off, I’m going--” 

 

“No! It’s okay!” gasped Lance, pulling himself up into camera view again, “Sorry-- I’m okay!” 

 

They didn’t look like they believed him. Coran kept pressing whatever buttons needed to be pressed to launch a pod, while Shiro stepped up to the screen to glare in his worried-Shiro kind of way. 

 

“Lance, you don’t  _ look _ okay,” he said, firmly.

 

“No, really, I’m fine!” Lance insisted, hoping it was true, “Pidge and Keith, too! Anyway, I’m supposed to be pinging Hunk and Allura.” He was trying frantically to change the subject. 

 

Coran looked up again, “They both left here at high speeds 20 dobashes ago, and now neither of them are responding.” 

 

Success. 

 

“I think they’re unconscious--” said Lance, brightly.

 

“ _ What _ ?” they demanded in impressive synchrony.

 

“--but also fine!” he rushed to finish, “I’m pretty sure I can get them to wake up if Red gives Yellow and Blue a nudge.” 

 

“ _ Lance _ ,” groaned Shiro, “What’s going  _ on _ ?” 

 

Lance didn’t really want to talk about this, yet--at least not without the others there to help him explain through the… painful parts. But he couldn’t leave Shiro and Coran totally in the dark to worry.

 

“Everyone’s fine now,” he said, slowly, “but I  _ think _ we formed Voltron with our minds.”

 

“You always connect your minds,” said Coran, looking bewildered. 

 

“Uh, no--umm... _ just  _ our minds?” 

 

He watched them stare back at him in shocked confusion for a tick. 

 

“We’ll talk about it when we get back,” he said, trying to deflect and sound reassuring at the same time. Shiro looked like he was going to say something, so Lance bulldozed over him. 

 

“Okay-I’m-going-to-wake-up-Hunk-and-Allura!” he hurried, and hastily opened their transmission to the Yellow Lion.  

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It really sucks to be out of the loop. 
> 
> Kudos are like a path in the forest. Comments are like the stars on a clear night. 
> 
> This is a shorter chapter, but I couldn't in good conscience shove it in with one of the ones on either side of it and make a monster chapter instead. 
> 
> Thanks for the comments and kudos! All my fans make my day so much brighter.


	12. Chapter 12

Pidge was pulled out of sleep as something squeezed her hand and Green squeezed everything else.

 

Green stayed all around her as she rushed towards consciousness with a _woosh_. It felt kind of like doing cartwheels on a roller coaster, but not in a bad way. As she neared full awareness, Green slowed her and eased her much more gently to the surface. One new detail came at a time, like Pidge were reading each on a page of a book, examining it, then turning the page to the next.

 

First page--Green. Yes, Green was here, very close. Next page-- she was safe with Green. It was nice, here with her. Next page--everyone was safe. That's good. Next page--Pidge had been asleep. Next-- she was lying down. Next--She was lying somewhere strange, but that was okay, because she was safe with Green.

 

Someone wanted her to wake up. A friend. Keith wanted her to wake up. He had called her name. She should wake up.

 

At first, all Pidge saw was Green, looming above her. But, following the sensation of a hand holding her own, she turned her head a little and saw Keith looking down at her.

 

“Immup,” she slurred. Green did whatever the Lion equivalent of laughing at her was.

 

She pushed herself to her elbows. Keith seemed to be crouching rather uncomfortably in a tiny space to her left-- the only clear spot left unoccupied by Pidge herself. Everywhere else in the immediate vicinity… was filled with twisted metal and shrapnel.

 

Huh. Interesting.

 

She sat all the way up and scooted over, allowing Keith to sit next to her. She looked through the gaps in the hills of debris and saw large swaths of sky. There wasn’t a base anymore.

 

Jesus.  

 

“I didn't know we could do that,” she said, referring vaguely to the whole situation.

 

Keith grimaced. “Yeah.”

 

They sat for a moment, examining their destruction. There was no need to say what Pidge was sure they were both thinking-- they never wanted to do that again. They hoped they never had another reason to.

 

“Pidge,” said Keith, “Thank you.”

 

Huh? She turned to look at him. _Thank you_ ? She would have expected something like “Nice work” or “Great extra-dimensional butt-kicking”-- but _thank you?_ As if constantly saving each other's asses was suddenly something _surprising._

 

“If it weren’t for you and Green,” he said, expression pained, “then…”

 

His voice cut off as it wavered. He looked away.

 

Oh.

 

 _Oh._  

 

She remembered the awful emotions that Keith had emanated.  The complete _hopelessness,_ and so much more, when Lance had vanished.

 

Keith’s breath caught in a sob.  

 

“Hey, man,” she said, as gently as she could. She leaned in and wrapped her arms around him. Pidge could maybe count on her hands how many times she and Keith had hugged-- but she’d just mind-melded with this kid and they’d destroyed a building together. Personal boundaries were irrelevant.

 

Keith returned the embrace.

 

“It’s okay,” she whispered, “we’re okay.”

 

She let him cry into her shoulder, full-force now. Tears formed in her own eyes, then poured down her cheek. _It’s okay,_ she told herself, _we’re okay._  

 

Green flowed through her. The Lion filled every tear with the fear and pain Pidge had felt in the last few hours. She guided the emotions out and let them fall before they could jam and burst inside her.

 

After a few minutes, both of their sobbing stilled.

 

For a moment, Pidge could feel Keith's black energy. It was no longer the terrible cloud it had been before, but it still wasn’t quite right… like something very deep inside him had cracked.

 

“Keith?” she whispered, “You know that...You know that wasn't your fault, right?”

 

The black hardened, pulled away. She’d said something wrong.

 

“Keith?”

 

But he pulled himself out of their hug, wiping his eyes.

 

Sadness and frustration welled up in her. Something was still wrong, and he was walling himself off, like usual.

 

“Lance is with Red,” said Keith. Back to business. “We need to find our bayards.”

 

She frowned at him, but she didn’t know what else to say-- she rarely did with Keith. Would Shiro know?  Those two had been so strained lately… Right now, all she could do was move on and hope things would sort themselves out.

 

So, with nothing else to try, she got back to business, too.

 

Pidge scanned the mountains of rubble that stretched as far as the eye could see for any sign of their armor (crap, there was a lot to look through) but Green pushed a location at her. She had literally triangulated the bayards’ locations from her, Red’s, and Black’s sense of them. Luckily, they were all pretty close, in probably what _used_ to be a prison-wing storage locker.

 

Pidge and Keith clambered ungracefully for the 50 yards to the indicated position, and --after a bit of digging-- found a pile of their red, green, and blue armor. They snapped on their own and split Lance’s between them to carry. Pidge jetpacked back to Green, while Keith hopped back towards where Red and Black still huddled.

 

Settling into the cockpit, Pidge turned on the comms. The other Lions were connected--everyone was awake now-- and it sounded like Hunk was talking Shiro down from coming and scooping them all up in a pod.

 

“--you guys were _unconscious_ , what the hell makes you think anything about that sounds ‘flight-worthy’?” demanded Shiro.

 

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” admitted Hunk, “but I promise we are-- look, Pidge is online!”

 

“Hey, guys,” she said. Four screens popped up on the console.

 

“Pidge! Are you okay?” asked Shiro.

 

“Yeah, I’m fine, now.”

 

“I just told him that!” insisted Lance. She gave him a quick once-over. He seemed animated enough to Pidge, but he looked _way_ too tired.

 

“Keith and I have Lance’s armor and bayard,” she continued, “and he’s heading back to his Lion.”

 

As she said this, a fifth screen popped up, occupied by Keith.

 

“Hey,” he said, face hard and indecipherable.

 

“Are you okay, Keith?” asked Shiro. Lance weakly threw his hands up in a no-one-listens-to-me motion.

 

“Yeah,” Keith replied, firing Black’s engines, “we’re all heading up.”

 

“What _happened_ down there, you guys?” Shiro asked, close to pleading.

 

Coran’s face popped up in another screen, eyeing them.  Allura and Hunk sent questioning looks to the other Paladins.

 

Pidge glanced at Lance and Keith. Lance returned her gaze, uneasily. Keith looked away.

 

Pidge swallowed and looked back to Shiro. “We should probably do a full debrief at the Castle...maybe when we’re all settled.”

 

Shiro had watched their exchange of glances and sort of wilted. “Okay, fine,” he said defeatedly, although he looked like he wanted to reach through the screen and hug them all.

 

The three Lions each took off towards the Castle, meeting up with Blue and Yellow along the way. As they flew, Coran took inventory. “I’m readying the cryopods. Injuries?”

 

Pidge looked to Keith and Lance, but neither offered anything immediately. She again spoke first.

 

“I don’t have anything,” she said, shrugging, “I’m fine.”

 

Thankfully, her words seemed to prompt Keith out of his silence.  “Lance has a possible concussion and a laceration to the arm,” he said, in a short, militaristic cadence, “Anything else?”

 

“...No,” Lance said quietly, as if he really had to think hard about it. “I don’t think so.”  

 

“I have... probably a bruised hip,” said Keith. He hesitated, “And maybe a shoulder injury. Or two.”

 

There was a pregnant pause. Coran had clearly been expecting more. A lot more. Enough damage that would have explained…everything. But, after a few ticks, Coran respected the wait-til-debrief decision, and let the matter rest.

 

“Alright, two pods,” said Coran, without enthusiasm, “Shouldn’t be too complicated-- no more than a varga for each of you.”

 

The rest of their flight, only a minute or two, was spent giving everyone directions for what to do upon landing. Lance and Keith would be escorted to the infirmary by Shiro and Hunk, where Coran was waiting. After Allura shot down Shiro’s suggestion that they essentially baby-sit one another, it was agreed that she and Pidge could go off on their own to change and then meet up with everyone afterward.

 

Green landed softly in her hanger with a happy contentment that continued to radiate through Pidge all the way to her bedroom, where she unceremoniously chucked her armor into its usual pile next to her bed. Once in her normal-person clothes, there was still a considerable amount of time left before Lance and Keith were expected to pop out of their cryopods. She went to the infirmary to wait.

 

Allura was already there, speaking quietly with Coran and Shiro on the far side of the room. The instant the door opened, both men turned and quickly closed the distance to Pidge, effectively impeding her progress toward the pods. But once she had been scrutinized far beyond her comfort level by Coran's hand-held scanners and the conversation had resumed, she was allowed to approach.

 

Pidge took a deep breath. No matter how many times she'd seen these reckless dumbasses frozen like upright popsicles, it was always a little unsettling. They were too still, expressions too blank to feel real.

 

But Lance and Keith were _here_ , right where they were supposed to be. Getting better.

 

She stood close, and watched them breathe.  

 

The door opened, and Hunk came in carrying a small pile of Lance and Keith's clothes. Pidge scowled at him, “Why didn't _you_ get a pat-down?” she demanded, waving towards Coran and Shiro.

 

Hunk raised his eyebrows incredulously, “Oh, believe me, I did,” he said, “I've already been through here. I'm pretty sure the Galra are less invasive than that was.”

 

Pidge stepped back and took a seat on the steps facing the pods.  Hunk sat next to her, bumping up against her side. He looked at her sideways.

 

“So. By process of elimination,” he said softly, so the others wouldn't hear, “I figured you and Green were the ones to initiate that whole Voltron---” he waved his hands around his head “-- thing.”

 

Pidge couldn’t help the grin that crept to her face. “Very astute,” she teased.

 

His face fell, though. “Well, we got a sort of _impression_ of what was going on, but it wasn't very clear.” He turned to face her head-on, and, before she could fully process the motion, pulled her into a bone-crushing hug. “Good job, Pidge,” he whispered thickly.

 

She wrapped as much of her trapped arms around him as she could. A few moments later, she heard Allura sit on her other side and felt her strong hand on her shoulder.

 

Pidge turned her head to look at the cryopods, where Keith and Lance rested quietly. Whole.  

 

A proud purr crept like electricity through the base of her consciousness, and down her spine.

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mama Bear Pidge. And Keith's been doing a lot of crying. 
> 
> Kudos are like naps. Comments are like sleeping in. 
> 
> Thank you all for your kind words!


	13. Chapter 13

Red’s mind followed Lance as he stumbled to the infirmary under the watchful eyes of the others. She twisted pleasantly around him as he stepped into the cryopod, and was there to catch him (along with Coran) when he teetered out. Her warm presence fought back the worst of the cold that always plagued him after a dip in those glorified refrigerators.

 

Once Lance shooed out Allura and Pidge, he and Keith, who had been ejected not a minute after him, got dressed in their roam-around-the-Castle clothes. Lance was moving slower than he would have liked. His arm and head were fine, now, but he felt like he needed a nap. A really long nap.

 

They all made their way to the lounge, where they found Allura and Pidge already waiting.  Everyone sat down. Moment of truth. But Lance could do this...if everyone was here with him.

 

Without preamble, Keith started.

 

“We were ambushed by natives,” he said, voice tight, “and they stunned us, with blasters. About 15 minutes in.”

 

Shiro’s prosthetic hand crunched as he clenched his fists.

 

“They’re plant-based,” said Pidge, quietly “like trees. I think that’s why the sensor didn’t recognize them.”

 

“I woke up in a cell at the base,” continued Keith.

 

“Yeah,” added Lance, “me too.”

 

“Me, too,” said Pidge, “and Green had been picked up.”  

 

Crunch crunch crunch.  

 

“I was…cuffed to the wall. I couldn't get up.”

 

CRUNCH. Shiro was glaring into a corner of the room like he was trying to drill a hole in it with his eyes (Lance wouldn’t be surprised if the wall surrendered soon). Next to Lance on the couch, Hunk looked like he might cry.

 

“One of these… natives, asked me questions... but I just kept asking to see Lance and Pidge,” Keith gestured to Lance, but didn’t look at him, “Then they brought Lance in.”

 

All eyes in the room swiveled to him.

 

“I tried to talk to two of them, but they just handcuffed me and brought me to Keith,” he said, “And then....”

 

And then.

 

He looked at his hands. Red’s mind pushed against him, keeping him here, in the present.

 

“They did something to him…” Keith nearly whispered, “to his mind. I could feel it. It was awful.”

 

Lance reached out for Red. She held him tighter.

 

“They asked me more questions, and I answered them, but…”

 

Oh God. Lance felt like he was going to be sick.

 

“... they just kept going.”

 

That’s what they’d been doing? He hadn't been the target, _Keith_ had. They'd used him to hurt his _friend_.

 

He pressed his face into his hands, the room had started spinning and he really wanted it to hold still. Red purred to him. She told him it was over-- everything was okay, now. She flooded him with herself. Safe. Okay. Safe.

 

Keith sounded like he was also contemplating throwing up. “They didn’t want anyone to know about them, so they… _kept_ going.”

 

Keith sounded awful. Lance made himself look up at him-- no matter how hard the room tried to pirouette. His face was twisted into a scowl that was inches away from shattering into the most awful despair.

 

“Then he... _broke._ ”

 

Lance’s head was rushing with all of the pure love and protectiveness Red could project. She was drowning out all of the awful emotions that wanted to explode inside him-- nearly drowning out reality--but he still didn’t miss the look of agony on Keith’s face. On everyone’s face.

 

Yep, that did it. Lance shifted quickly over the front of the couch and threw up whatever he'd eaten for breakfast that morning-- like, a million years ago-- onto the lovely Altean carpeting.

 

“Jeese, man,” said Hunk, scooting to rub Lance on the back, exactly how every mother in the universe seemed to know how to do. Allura and Keith moved to crouch in front of him (carefully out of range) while Pidge climbed to his other side and added her own rubbing. Coran wordlessly got up and procured a sponge-like object from one of the many hidden compartments in the walls.

 

Shiro, however, abruptly stood up and stormed out. A series of crashing sounds came from the hallway, indicating some unfortunate piece of paneling had met its demise.

 

“Are you okay?” asked Keith, once Lance’s heaving stopped.

 

“Are _you?”_ Lance demanded.

 

Keith grimaced but didn't answer.

 

Not good enough. Lance reached out to grab his hand, and Keith let him pull him into the small sliver of couch that remained between him and Hunk. Keith’s shoulders squeezed into theirs.

 

Coran’s sponge-thingy efficiently soaked up the vomit, like it had never even happened. Shiro quietly returned, eyes steely, and sat next to Allura on the floor. He put his left hand on Keith’s knee.

 

They stayed like this. All huddled together.

 

Eventually, Pidge continued. “I could feel...everything,” she whispered. “... Green, Keith and I… _fixed_ him.” She spoke cautiously, like she were trying to find the right words, “I’m not sure how, but we shared our minds with him. Then Red joined him, and he came back.”

 

He had come back. Because of them.

 

“Black found us, too,” said Keith, “and we could deflect them, then--the mental attacks. We wouldn't have gotten far, though, without Hunk and Allura. They joined in and...we could do things, physical things. ”

 

“We wrecked our way out, basically,” supplied Pidge, “but it was a lot of energy. That’s when we all passed out.”

 

And then they'd come home. Because all of them had come for him. They’d brought him back.

 

Lance leaned back against the couch. He pressed his hands to his face again… he needed to process this.

 

And, Jesus, he really needed that nap.

 

“Lance?” Allura asked, softly, from close to his feet. Lance lowered his hands to meet her gaze. “How are you feeling?”

 

He sighed. He still hadn't given his team a straight answer to that question.

 

“I'm tired…” he said, finally, “but…”

 

But…

 

...But his mind had been attacked. But they'd almost died. But he’d been tortured, and-- worst of all-- so had his friends. That whole thing should've gone a lot worse...but they were home, now.

 

He shouldn't have survived that...but...

 

_But..._

 

Red gently pulled him into his mind, so he could see. The red was burning as brightly as ever, with no sign of the atrocity it had suffered. The black and green spots were much smaller, now. They would disappear, soon.

 

Lance wished they would stay. They were little pieces of his friends that he could carry with him. He'd never really ever be alone if he could hang onto those parts of them. They made him feel _stronger_.

 

Red pulled him outside of himself and pushed him just beyond, so he could see the energy around them.

 

There was more black and green, now. And there were others --blue and yellow. There were even two soft glows that weren't quite defined into a color. They were all reaching out and barely brushing against his red. He _felt_ their love and support, and he knew everything they would do for him.

 

Lance touched against them each.

 

Red brought him back to himself. His team was clustered around him.

 

“...But,” he said, “I feel stronger.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The End. 
> 
> Thanks to all of you for making it this far. I've really appreciated all of the comments, kudos, and general positive reaction to this work. Thanks to those of you who have been cheering me on through this whirlwind of a fortnight of posting-- and if you've tuned in after the whirlwind, I would still really appreciate your kudos and comments, so please take a moment and jot down your thoughts. 
> 
> This was a very new experience for me, and it's been amazing to have so much support for something that feels so intimate. It's been a rough few weeks, months, years-- but you guys make me feel stronger.


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